Monday, January 26, 2009

Who makes the best boss?

My seven-year-old daughter was really surprised to learn that my boss is a man. Her assumption was that my boss was a woman - and that most bosses are women. I think that's a very different assumption then I would have had at her age. So it got me thinking - who do I prefer to work for?

The argument of who is better female bosses or male bosses can be argued to death. What I'm wondering is when you think about the best boss you ever had - was that person a woman or a man? Please take the poll below - and feel free to make comments, too.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm torn on this one. I'd say, from the gut, that my best boss was a man. But I seem to get along better with woman bosses. So I voted man, as the best, but as far as compatibility, I choose a woman boss. Must be my charms.
- Green Mullet
http://greenmullet.com/

Anonymous said...

My best two bosses were men. I've had good women bosses, too. However, I have found that it was easier to get women who were not my boss to mentor me. And yet it was easier to get men who were my boss to mentor me. I'm pretty sure a lot of Gen X women have had this experience.

-GenerationXpert

Anonymous said...

I used to think that, as a guy, it was better to have a woman boss. And then I had this real piece of work, a real corporate shill who seemed to see people as amount entries in a ledger. Who was always walking around saying how she loved her job and loved being our teams boss blah blah blah. And cried on Boss' Day when we got her some lame gift. And then we watched her seem to take a real perverse pride an laying people off per company dictate.

Of course, after that I had an older male boss was a major P**ck. Chain smoked in the office. Always calling you into dole out nuggets of nonsensical business wisdom. But then, he was Boomer, so....

My current boss is a male. He's cool. One of the best bosses I've ever had.

Ultimately, hard for me to pick a side.

Anonymous said...

My best and worst were both the same woman. -LB

Anonymous said...

I have had excellent male and female bosses. I have had horrible male and female bosses. I do not believe it can be generalized by gender. The quality of a boss is a result of that person's experience, personality and intellect.

Le said...

my best ever was a woman very early on in my job history - she just saw something in me to value that others had not.

In my experience when you click with a female boss it is for the right reasons ...

When you click with a male boss there is always some element of the dirty ole man syndrome creeping in there ...

On the whole I try not to have 'a boss' - I find a board works better for me, then I am usually the boss - hee hee le

Anonymous said...

I've never had a woman boss. What does that say?

Anonymous said...

I've only had one boss- a male- so I can't say what it's like to have a female boss. However, I myself am a female boss, and I hope that I do a good job. I can say that I stepped down for awhile into a supervisory role because I was getting stressed out. But a lot of my employees have asked me to step back up and come back, so I guess I was doing something right :)

CrustyBill said...

How does it count if I have both?

Flea# said...

This is a great topic; as I run my own business, I am always looking for ways to improve. I recently read the book "My Best Boss Ever" by Rory Rowland and it provided great insight into what I can do to improve myself for my employees.