I read somewhere that many of the clients of Dominatrixes (what is the plural of dominatrix?) are CEOs – people who spend all day calling the shots and answering to no one. They have a psychological need to be bossed around, but obviously need to go outside of work to get that need met. But I don’t care about your private life, or what his name is. I’m talking business reasons you might need a Boss.
Seth Godin has a great post on this topic. It’s geared toward free agents but much on the list applies to entrepreneurs. He summarizes by saying:
“The main thing a boss does, though, is give you the momentum you need to get through the stuff that takes perseverance. The main thing that ends the career of a Free Agent is the lack of a hand pushing on the back, someone handing out assignments and waiting for the deliverables. Who keeps you going when you don’t feel like doing it?”
When Scott Adams (who writes Dilbert) left his job in a cubicle (yes he really had one – for a LOOOONG time), he called it “Boss diversification” because now every customer was a “boss”. Nice way of thinking about it, but the problem is that customers don’t care about your success as much as a boss does. So if you have trouble prioritizing and staying on track, then you need a boss. How do you get one? Here are some ways.
1. Actually get one. Keep ownership of your company, but give up the CEO job. This works for people who really love and excel at one of the critical tasks: Product design or sales or writing code. And you have to have the right CEO and work hard on that relationship because you’re wearing two hats – because as a sales person, you work for her, but because you’re the owner, she still works for you.
2. Give some real power to your board. Most small companies don’t have a strong board if they have one at all. This is a mistake.
3. Hire a coach from the ICF referral service [Disclaimer – many years ago I was president of the ICF. Since I left, the organization has grown 10 fold. Coincidence? You decide]
4. Become your own boss. This is the hardest one of all. Pretend you were your own employee. What would you monitor, how often? What tangible results would you expect? Which ones would you demand?
2 responses to “Do you Need a Boss?”
“Be self-motivated” is really the solution.
Giving yourself a boss is a Band-Aid. If you do that, you keep the mentality of an employee while forcing yourself to perform the boss’ duties. I don’t see that as being either desireable or successful over the long term.
Instead, look deeply inside yourself and purge the desire to be an employee. Replace it with the desire to be self-reliant. Then, practice the habits that keep you moving through those things that you find unpleasant. As those habits become ingrained, you won’t feel the desire to be “made” to do something. You’ll simply understand that, if you follow your habits and routines, the unpleasant task will eventually be complete.
You’ll be able to put the effort into unpleasant things without playing mind games.
Dan,
I see your point, but not every boss employee relationship revolves around being made to do something. It depends on the nature of the work and the maturity of both the people involved as well as the company culture.
There are parts of running a company that are not to some people’s liking – even if you are the owner. I agree that looking inside and understanding your motivations is a key to making this decision well.
Here’s a story of a pair of business owners who made the choice to give up being the boss. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060801/two-chefs.html