AWonderful Boss

17 people from different disciplines recount their points of view on the concept of 'Boss'Differentiates between 'Boss' and 'Leader.'Virender Kapoor is an Indian who wears many hats. An educationist of repute, a former director of a prestigious management institute under the Symbiosis umbrella, is the Founder Director and President and Chief Mentor of MILE Management Institute for Leadership and Excellence, Pune. Having written books on information systems and telecommunication in the 1990s, he shifted his focus towards emotional intelligence, leadership and self help.Though the definition itself is somewhat derogatory, that author has dispelled this notion through this book. As a believer in the law of averages, and quoting from his own experience of around forty years, the author says that there would be more good guys in organizational corridors of power than bad ones. Yet there is big room for improvement for the good guys too. A leader has a much larger role to play which affects performance and progress of the entire organization. At the core of leadership lies vision, mission, direction, wisdom, sacrifice and also a moralistic stance. In contrast, the role of a boss is more 'hands on' and largely revolves around and is focused towards 'people management' and interpersonal relations with the employees of the organization. The boss subordinate relationship becomes very personal and that is why one would say 'He is my boss, and you will seldom get to hear anything like, 'he is my leader.' It is the softer part of leadership which is the hardest to manage! Putting it in another way, a boss is in your immediate vicinity with whom you deal on a daily basis, whereas a leader may be visible only from a distance. During the Gilded Age, in the 19th century in the United States, bossism was a system of political control centering around a single powerful figure-the boss. The central figure had tremendous clout and influence in terms of political control. In that context also, boss was to do more with "control" and perhaps nothing to do with leadership. In the modern environment, bossism is about 'atmospherics', which has a direct impact on a subordinate's performance as well his personal life and happiness too. Therefore, bossism is skewed more towards emotional intelligence rather than the IQ of a boss.There are hundreds if not thousands of books on leaders and leadership, but there are very few on bosses or about being a boss. In fact, we as individuals need to deal more with bosses than leaders every day. A leader will always be wearing two hats at a time, one of a leader and the other of a boss, as the two roles are quite different. Yet these two roles may have some common traits that could functionally overlap. Very often people attach a negative connotation to the word 'boss'. In fact, the Oxford dictionary defines it as 'to tell someone what to do in an arrogant or annoying way.'Good Boss and Bad Boss: Where the Buck doesn't Stop The Very Good Bad Boss Every Boss Can be Your Hero: If You Want Him to be One A Genuine and an Effective Boss A Boss is a Great Teacher Balanced, Optimistic, Smart and Savvy Boss is a People Manager: An HR Perspective My Bosses and My Mentors Super Boss - To be or Not to be Timeless Lessons Bosses: Good, Bad and the Ugly A Good Boss is a Good Leader My Experimental Learning from my Bosses Navigating the Signposts of the Business World: How a Wonderful Boss can Guide You Effectively My Wonderful Boss Is leadership Possible in Rule Bound Bureaucracy ? What is your Boss Quotient ?