I often ask participants in my leadership training seminars or audiences in my keynote presentations,

“Think of the very best boss you’ve ever had…”

• What did he or she do that causes you to call him/her your “best boss?”
• How did he/she operate? How did he/she treat you?

THEN…

• What were you like working for them?
• How hard did you work? What percentage of your potential contribution did you actually contribute? (i.e. How engaged were you in the work?)
• How did you feel about yourself? about your job?
• How did you talk to others about your job? How did you talk to yourself?

I am blown away by the energy that this question generates in the room. People light up. They really start thinking. They share their answers in twos and threes with their colleagues. And there is no shortage of responses when I ask people to share some of these answers with the whole group.

So I have decided to make the theme of my blog about “best bosses,” whether you are trying to build yourself into one or you are in charge of building them throughout your organization.

My entries will have some guiding principles:

• Short and easy to read. If the subject warrants extensive text, I will break them into parts over the next few posts.
• Drawing on the latest ideas, research, best practices I run across in my own reading and work. I expect to build upon items in newspapers, studies recently published, posts of other thought leaders who blog in this subject, management books I read, conversations with clients and colleagues, etc.
• Include my own ideas and comments. While not always, but usually, when I link to, report on, or refer to any of the above, I will add my own thoughts and reactions.
• Periodically include important unfiltered input from other sources. This might be a link to a website, a video or audio clip, or a guest blogpost from a respected colleague.
• Invite and encourage comments that will, hopefully on occasion, lead to a stimulating and valuable conversation.

My goal is to post 6-8 times per month, ideally twice per week. For those of you who already receive my periodic full articles and book reviews, these blog postings will fill in the gap with shorter “hits” of ideas and tips.

I heartily invite you to sign up and join me on the journey!