Be a Boss Everyone Loves

As a boss, what is the key to being loved by your employees? How do you define a “boss who is loved”? Perhaps you would say that a key indicator of bosses that are loved is that they are admired and respected by their subordinates.

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Admiration comes with respect, and respect is not only two-way, it is also earned. Therefore, to be a boss who is loved, start with putting yourself in your employees’ shoes. You need to give them respect and earn theirs. To earn their respect, start with acknowledging and delivering on their viewpoint – namely, what would they want from a boss?

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Narrowing down the scope of this question is a simple matter. Regardless of whether your subordinates are fresh-faced juniors or senior executives, they only seek three things from their bosses:

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• When they are unable to solve a problem, they will share it with you, looking for a solution
• They want you to have their backs
• They want you to help them gain more value

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Operating as a boss definitely needs you to do more than just fulfil these needs, but doing so provides the foundation for everything else that comes after. I wasn’t born into the working world with the role and responsibility of a boss. Working my way up from the bottom, I had these core needs, and I was fortunate to know outstanding bosses who could deliver on them and much more. They shaped my expectations of what a boss could be and helped me get to where I am today. I would be honoured to pay it forward with this Power Read.

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The Three Core Needs

Inspiring bosses are also teachers and talent nurturers. Instead of confidently offering solutions to employees facing difficult problems, consider pointing them in the right direction towards the solution. Let them accomplish it through their own efforts and merit, or guide them on their journey to the solution – it depends on the circumstance and the approach you favour. Nonetheless, a good boss will be a dependable one, whether they solve problems in a direct or indirect manner.

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This dependability can and should make itself known in other ways as well. Sometimes, your employees don’t need a solution, just to vent and let off some steam regarding their workload and stresses. Will you be there for them? When you let employees talk the stress out of their system, they will feel much better and consequently work better.

Being dependable isn’t rocket science, and it arguably isn’t even an art – it’s about the actions you make. Being dependable (and by extension, a respected boss) is when you look after your employees, show your appreciation for them and ensure that they’re fairly rewarded for the efforts they’ve invested. It’s about caring, and being a reliable navigator, showing them which directions they need to take.

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When you care about your employees, that will extend to using your capabilities and experience to help them gain value. I worked under Ravi Gupta, an incredible boss and human being. He had no lack of skills and experience – Ravi had come from an amazing creative agency in India, and though he was a mining engineer by profession, he was a tremendous strategic and creative mind.

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Whenever I found myself consulting him, I almost always felt like I had come across something new and unexpected. He had an inspirational ability to think on a broad level, across multiple brands and categories but it didn’t end there. He could practically look out of the window, seize onto some realisation and come up with something that may seem unrelated but eventually leads you to the answer. I learnt something new every time I spoke with him; that’s the kind of value-add that your subordinates will greatly benefit from.

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On Accessibility and Responsibility

In the words of a boss far greater than myself:

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“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell, retired four-star general, US Army

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To prevent this from happening, you always need to be accessible to your employees. Your organisation’s culture needs to be one that makes people feel that they can freely walk into your office and discuss issues with you.

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Many people believe that the boss/subordinate relationship works like this: the subordinates’ role is to make the boss’s life easier. I would like to turn that understanding upside down. In truth, the boss’s role is to make the subordinates’ lives easier. That’s a principle I’ve held from the very beginning.

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I’ve come across many in the industry who start feeling more comfortable once they have a team working under them. With subordinates to help shoulder their responsibilities, they fall into a kick-back-and-relax mentality. If you want to be respected and admired by your subordinates, that’s not the route you should go down.

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With great power comes great responsibility, and that also applies to your team. As your team grows, there are more people to look after. That means more people that you need to motivate, lead by example, and assist when their problems inevitably end up on your table. That’s part of the responsibility of being a boss, just as parents are responsible for the well-being of their kids. Ask not what your employees can do for you, but what you can do for them.

I was once part of a team sent to pitch our agency’s credentials to the chairman of Bata, a very large footwear company. Vijay Lamba, the chairman, was a very prestigious man and a senior industry figure. Just before we were scheduled to present in the company’s offices, my boss, Ravi Gupta, decided to make a few changes to the arrangement.

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He looked at me and said, “Subhash, why don’t you present one of the case studies in the deck?” He also offered the same proposition to my colleague.

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To say I was stunned would be quite an understatement.

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After I had gathered myself, I replied, “Mr Lamba is the chairman, and I’m just a senior account executive.” I was intimidated. The thought of messing up such a key role when presenting to such a senior industry figure scared me, as did the prestige of the potential client.

“Subhash, I’m asking you to present the case study to Mr Lamba. Who’s familiar with the case study, you or Mr Lamba?”

I told Ravi that I was familiar with the case study.

“So, who should be nervous? You or him?”

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Pushed to take flight, I soared. I made that presentation. Though I was understandably nervous, Ravi was there like a firm supporting pillar. Whenever he felt I was about to stumble, he would swoop in and help emphasise the point I was making. It continued beautifully and Mr Lamba never saw me as an insignificant young executive. He was genuinely interested in what I was saying and even addressed me directly, seeking to learn more about the case study I was presenting.

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I left that pitch a changed man, with the utmost admiration for my boss. Ravi gave me that decisive push with utmost faith in my ability to perform. If you put that kind of trust in your subordinates when the opportunities show up, that will definitely make you an admired and respected boss.

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That was not the only time he pushed me to realise my potential. At a time when I was a client services director, I was called to Ravi’s office, where he and my immediate boss were waiting. I was performing well in account management and enjoyed my role then.

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Ravi looked at me. “Young man, how would you like to run your own branch?”

My jaw dropped. This was completely unexpected and unheard of. “I don’t know anything about running a branch, or writing a business plan, or…”

Once again, I was afraid of failure, and terribly nervous. Ravi said, “I’ll teach you, it’s not rocket science. In any case, we’ll still be around to help.”

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So at the age of 28, accompanied by my wife and our baby, I flew to Bangalore to take charge of the new branch.

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As a boss, you’ve got to be sensitive to potential in the room. Know when to take a step back and push the talents under you to do great things. That’s possibly the biggest thing you can do to be loved by your employees.

Moving On

I’ve never stopped someone from leaving my company if they genuinely have great opportunities waiting to be fulfilled. I’d even encourage them to leave. Go!

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One of the talents under me was a business director who I was very close to (even today, we’re still good friends). He came up to me but didn’t quite know how to go about saying what was on his mind.

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I asked him to simply tell me about what was bothering him, and he let on that he got an opportunity to become the marketing head of a startup. This opportunity was a really exciting one for him, but he still had some hesitation. Thus, he sought me for advice. “What do you think I should do?”

I was frank with him. “You should go for it! You won’t get this opportunity here, you should!”

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Recently one of our guys, who was doing very well here, had a job offer to be the head of client services of an agency in Vietnam. I said, “You should go for it. You and your wife don’t have kids right now. This is the perfect time for you to explore another market and gain exposure. Once you have kids, the need to ensure a stable educational environment for them will prevent you from being mobile.”

I pushed him to go for it as fast as possible. “Head of client services is a great responsibility, and Vietnam is an exciting place. Go ahead, take three or four years to explore their advertising market.”

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If you can’t provide the growth that your people need, you shouldn’t stop them from growing, even if it means they end up growing out of your company. When I learn that those under my charge are considering leaving the company, I will ask to meet them and discuss the issue. All I want to know from them is that they’re leaving for the right reasons.

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Whether they go or stay, they should do it for the right reasons. Don’t go for the wrong reasons. If my subordinates feel like there’s nothing left in the company for them, I’d say, “Let’s have that conversation.” From the boss’s point of view, I’ll let them know if there’re still growth opportunities in the company for you. If there isn’t, I won’t keep them in the dark about it. Your employees should have that conversation with the organisation first.

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Not to judge, but the younger generation can be quite impatient about moving on. It’s a very easy thing these days, compared to during my time. A lovely saying holds that, regardless of the career stage one is in, there are only two choices to make at any given point. You can build a monument, or you can explore the Amazon.

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Brick by brick, lay out a foundation, and build a monument – that’s the traditional way. People can do that at their existing jobs, in their existing companies, and it’s a great way to grow. Put in steady work, and the monument you build reflects your standing in the company.

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What about the Amazon? There are also people who have dropped everything at key points of their life and ventured into the unknown. They will have to deal with much higher risks, and what lies around the corner is never certain. There’s also a lot of new territory to explore, and that’s a great way to grow. Of course, another day exploring means another day not settling down.

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There’s no right or wrong in whichever approach one opts for. It all depends on the individual and their current position in life. What you should do as a boss is to encourage your people to make the best decision available to them, even if it means leaving your organisation. When they see that you’re sharing this feedback in their best interests, you’ll gain more respect from them.

It’s the Little Things

I used to have an extremely bright and sharp-eyed account director working under me. We were having a discussion in his office one day, when his junior walked in. It was her second year in advertising, so she was still quite new. She had written a brief and was looking forward to sharing it with him.

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While we were still busy talking, he looked at the brief and said, “it’s a little theoretical.”

After he dismissed her, he turned around to resume the conversation. At that point, I asked him if he was aware of what he just did to his junior. “She doesn’t know what to do, she’s unsure of which direction to take. She’s just two years into the industry, it’s obvious you can write a brief better than hers.

I continued, “You’re much more senior and your mind is razor-sharp, but it’s not like you’re going to write the brief immediately. You could have given her a direction, let her know what she got right and wrong, then give her another shot at writing a better brief. It’ll take her more than one attempt before she has the confidence to write one.”

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He didn’t mean to put her down, it’s just that he has difficulty dealing with sudden intrusions and lacks patience for them. Perhaps he failed to fully articulate his sentiments. Nonetheless, I’d like to use this to highlight that you don’t need to demonstrate that you’re better than your juniors. You don’t have to constantly prove that you’re better than someone, and you should be careful about that. You may think that leading with brashness will impress them and get their admiration, but it backfires often – the example above just one example of the many I’ve witnessed.

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If you cultivate that image of superiority, their viewpoint of you will be pegged to it, and your subsequent efforts will be taken for granted. They will expect you to be infallible and able to do everything, because that’s the way you’ve been portraying yourself.

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Remember that your role as a leader is to help those under you. When you internalise this perspective, you’ll realise that you don’t have to be bigger and better than them. Your job is to help them feel bigger and better.

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I had the privilege to work under great bosses that left a deep impression on me. Even though I always looked up to them and held so much respect for them, they always ensured that the ideas and solutions were my own. They would guide me there, but I never got spoon-fed. Moreover, they would always emphasise that the credit for my efforts was my own, propping me up and saying, “This is what Subhash has done.”

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As a leader, you’ll also get to share in that confidence. It’s not just about their confidence in breaking new ground, or their confidence in you as a boss. After all, wouldn’t you feel confident in your leadership abilities, if they have helped you guide and nurture excellent people under your charge?

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Don’t worry about whether your employees love you as a boss. First, focus on being respected and trusted – always be there for them. Have their backs, and they’ll love you for it.

1. Create an Open Office Culture

When you create an open and accessible office culture for your people, they will find it easier to confide in you. That’s crucial to establishing rapport with them, which will be the foundation to grow respect and admiration in your employees.

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2. Push Them To Their Potential

Motivate the people under you to fulfil their growth potential. When the opportunity arises for them to do bigger and better things, encourage them to seize it – even if it means growing beyond the organisation.

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3. Have Their Back

Stand by your people, through good times and especially through hard times. Reward them fairly, show your appreciation and guide them well. You naturally earn respect and admiration when you have proven yourself a worthy boss.