Knowing your boss

When talking about business, a boss advises to focus on KYC (Know Your Customer) and when talking about career, I suggest to focus on KYB (Know Your Boss).

Most of you would agree that "Boss" is one of the most abused words in the corporate sector. In my 30-year career, I have been extremely lucky to have excellent bosses, who have shaped me into what I am today. Together, we delivered milestones that helped transform businesses ranging from soap and ice cream to telecom.

A good boss is a blessing not only for the employees but also for the company and the nation. A business can't be run successfully if the "boss" is not respected by the team. For the effective growth of a career within the organisation, it is imperative to know your boss and align your style accordingly.

While a good boss is a stroke of luck, a bad boss may also be a blessing. Each difficult person in your life is there to teach you a valuable lesson.

We can make our lives easier if we interpret the word "Boss" to mean – Be On the Safe Side! While I was mostly lucky with bosses, on two occasions, I wasn't. I have experienced difficult bosses who have given me lessons for life. In both cases, the differences were apparent from the first week of my engagement with them. In one case, I managed to be on the safe side but in the other case, I completely failed to assess the situation!

During my FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) days, I came across a boss who had a strong background in sales. While he had very little respect for the process, systems and governance, he had a sharp eye for delivering sales targets. When I analysed his career progression, I realised that as a CEO, he was just demonstrating the behaviour of sales instead of adopting a new set of behaviour required for the new role.

Since I was in finance being the custodian of process, systems and governance, I did not have any other choice but to object at various stages and that would make him furious! For the first time in my career, I felt the weight of stress on me and felt uncomfortable for not having a relationship of trust with the boss.

As the non-compliances were accumulating, I had to take up the issues to the group level but not much happened since he was delivering numbers! At a personal career level, I managed to survive unscathed as my direct line reporting was to the region and mercifully not to him! I also survived because of the strong nature of governance, organisational structure and overall culture of that company.

My second experience with a difficult boss was quite different though. In this case, the boss happened to be a newly appointed CEO at the head office with very limited expertise in the business and in working in a multinational culture for that matter.

After my first encounter at the board meeting, I was told, in the presence of other shareholders, that I debated too much with him, which reflects poorly on him and the company. Almost after every board meeting, I was being criticised for my aggressive behaviour, which was never an issue until that time and was appreciated by my previous bosses as great quality.

On a few occasions, he even warned me in writing of 'consequences' if I do not agree with his decisions. While I continued to work with honesty, integrity and commitment to take the company to a new height, the boss's ego continued to work on finding faults in me in the form of a continuous audit.

Here, I missed to assess his mind unlike in the earlier one, as I had no professional orientation with anyone with the above profile. In this case, I had critical learning about how far a boss with a political and ego-centric mindset can go if faced with challenges. Such bosses are least bothered about the welfare of the employees, the business, and the performance of the company when it comes to a battle of egos!

Looking back on the two experiences, I often wonder what I could have done differently to achieve better results without compromising on ethics. To my regret, the above KYB (Know Your Boss) analysis was done post-event. I am certain that if I had done it during the time of working with these bosses, I could have handled them both better by keeping their respective backgrounds in mind. Whatever reconciliatory initiatives I had taken while in the situation were not timely enough. When a relationship gets sour, it becomes increasingly difficult to make amends. Hence it is important to work on reconciliation from an earlier stage before it gets too sour and beyond repair.

Another great lesson from a difficult time is how the loyalty of colleagues whom you considered friends flips towards the powerhouse and you suddenly find yourself abandoned and alone. It is at this time that you need to brace yourself and hold on to the motto of 'Ekla Cholo Re' (Walk Alone)! 

Always be mindful of the blind spot in your understanding of the boss. The cost of not knowing your boss well may cost you dearly in terms of your career growth, self-development, motivation etc. Hence it is important to play smart and be on the safe side with your boss if you wish to stay afloat.

If you manage to survive the difficult times, then you can emerge stronger than ever before! My best wishes to the leaders of the future who would learn to handle their bosses better!

The author is a telecom and management expert.