This quote comes from a boss named "gschaadt " who wrote a comment in response to my post (with the great picture) on A Shitty View of the Pecking Order. The complete comment is
I always
tell the people who work for me the same thing:
My job
is to hold the umbrella so the shit from above doesn't hit you.
Your job is to keep me from having to use it.
I think this is brilliant because there is so much wisdom on so many levels. First, it is really funny, especially when paired with the picture in the post. Second, there is deep wisdom there about the relationship between a good boss and good followers — these are mutually supportive relationships, not one way. Even the best boss can't do everything. This boss —"gschaadt "– is more than willing to go to bat for his people. But the implication for him or any other boss is, if people keep creating conditions where he or she constantly has to protect them, say, from superiors that they piss-off because they do shoddy work or break too many rules or anything else– a point comes where the difficult employee ends-up undermining the boss's reputation, the reputation of his or her team, and ultimately hurting everyone involved.
This especially struck me because, as I said in my last post, I am working on an HBR article on how good bosses serve as a human shield, protecting their people in all sorts of ways, but there comes a point where a follower has messed-up so much that smart bosses don't open the umbrella to protect that one troublesome person because, otherwise, he or she –and the rest of the team — will all get in such deep shit that they will never be able to dig out. At the same time, walking this line isn't easy because some of the most creative and productive people are also sometimes the most difficult, weird, or annoying.
This is yet another example of why the best bosses realize they are always doing a balancing act. It reminds me of Marc Hershon (co-author of I Hate People and also the guy who named the Blackberry and the Swiffer) and what he said after reading some early chapters of Good Boss, Bad Boss. Marc suggeste another name for the book could be "Top Dog on a Tightrope."
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