Be an Inspiring Boss- Part 1

Usually when people are picking courses for the semester in College they ask around and seek for the

easiest teacher, the one that will make the course simpler, and if the opposite happens, anxiety and panicking may occur. The same analogy can happen also for bosses, except that you don't get the chance to pick. Rumors, reputations and "I-heard-about"s circle the hallways and most of the times, you will be lucky to have the legendary one as your next boss. 

I have been lucky to have memorable bosses throughout my career, and yes, by memorable I mean tough, demanding for high performance and endurance. As most things in life, half of it is attitude, so by keeping a positive take on the situation I have managed to improve both personally and professionally, and for each one of them, I ended up with a friend and a mentor for life.

Things are not eternal so these relationships with these great bosses will end of course, sometimes by moving to another area or sometimes because either of you two will part ways from the company. In this post I want to share you the e-mail I wrote to a former boss a few hours after he called to inform me that day had been his last day at work.

I want to take these words to thank you and let you know how much you have offered and taught me. When I first came to work with you (still university-minded), I expected my time in your area would be quick, temporary, just to get in the company and then switch to where I really wanted to be. However, I ended surpassing my expectations thanks to your vision and creation of possibilities that I didn't know they existed. I discovered a new professional world, a way to enjoy my job, working flat-out on a consistent basis and having a permanent hunger for knowledge and learning.

Skills such as the job intensity, how to defend yourself, execute tasks on a daily basis, think ahead and improve ideas constantly, perform follow-up on a team, how-to and when-to sell an idea to your higher ranks, raise flags before things go down in spiral and persistency on requests, are clearly learned in your area and have a seal of identity. Either I didn't have them and learned working with you, or I had them hidden in me and thanks to your leadership were brought afloat to form me who I am as a professional.

Apart from professional growth, I also owe you personal things such as being consistent with yourself: who you are, what you think, say and do; enjoy and laugh of simple things (which I had lost during my years overseas) with a take-it-easy-the-world-won't-explode attitude and the open environment you created with the team, to mess around with each other, make buddies and camaraderie, present ideas without fear of being rejected, make and discuss existential questions, be curious and ask why of everything, specially on subjects that you hear or read lightly about until you keep asking and asking details to know deeply into the subject, making us realize we actually know nothing about it. 

Nevertheless from all this that I have written, what I appreciate the most is: "everything is possible". Thanks to you I learned that whatever is in your mind you can turn it into reality in spite of difficulties, deadlines, delays, slow process and people, lack of tools etc, in the end, we can do anything we set our mind into. In two years I changed my mindset from "don't give me these user logins because I want to do as little as possible" to "give me as much as you can to learn and improve myself and the process". 

Keep this note as a gratitude, because where I am right now is thanks to you, and no matter where I get to, I will always have with me a piece of your area identity. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a beer once in a while, as buddies and friends that we became.

After reading this letter a couple of years later, and now having a team under my responsibility, I have realized a couple of things:

1) How much can a person influence and exploit the potential of your employees, if done right.

2) A leader always has to be inspirational, so that others follow you and are open to your feedback and teachings.

3) Most of the times, a tough boss will shape you for the rest of your life, so it's up to you to positively take this opportunity and turn him into your mentor and friend. It is possible, hey, I did it.

4) Finally, ask yourself this: How are you inspiring your team? If you leave today, will they have something to write to you?

I named this post as "Part 1" because I will post a more letters for other bosses I've enojoyed to work with, as I keep growing in this journey called life and professional career.