What Bosses Really Think About Returning to the Office
We all have bosses who make us work hard, but do we have bosses who truly understand us?
You’ve heard the phrase a lot over the years: Working on Wall Street requires the ability to take in and process massive amounts of data and make decisions as quickly as possible. You probably also believe you have nothing to learn from your boss’s daily office hours of meetings, phone calls, and e-mail. They seem to be in charge and you just have to follow their lead. But are they in charge for a reason?
A recent article by the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Bell, “It’s hard to be a boss who loves your employees,” offers insight into the truth of this myth. Many people who have been in one place for many years often become so accustomed to the way things run that they can’t fathom a return to the old ways. The key to success in any position is to adapt and to learn the lessons from where you’ve worked—and where you’ve worked, you have to learn how others feel, even if you don’t necessarily agree with them.
When I was in the finance industry, before I was named the vice president of an online brokerage, I worked for a group of people who, among other things, called me “F-A-C-K-I-E-R” because there was a lot of yelling and screaming involved when we had a client meeting. This was an environment that was very informal and free flowing. I have since learned that, rather than simply being yelled at, a client meeting needs to be a conversation among people who share the same goals and concerns.
At that time, I knew what I liked and disliked, but in our company, no one ever argued with anyone else. If you agreed with me, then I was correct. When I disagreed with one of my colleagues or if they disagreed with me, they were allowed to speak up and argue their