Tuesday, March 9, 2010....
Green-Eyed Momster posed an interesting question to her readers today: Do you prefer to work for a male or female boss?
I openly admit, I've always thought I enjoyed working for men over women until I was fortunate to work for one female boss.
At my last place of employment, I was there for 5 years and during that time had 5 bosses. It was a bit insane as each had a very unique style. Some good, some bad. Because my first boss at this company was female and incredibly difficult to work for, I naturally came to the conclusion that I hate working for female bosses.
Luckily for me, I was proven wrong.
During my time at this company, I had to go out on disability only to return to be told I'd have a new boss. A new female boss and to boot from England. Dear God, what was my employer putting me through.
I didn't know her personally and the VP of my department described her as 'soft spoken, but someone you shouldn't mess with'.
Great. A soft spoken bitch. Yay for me!
It was true she was soft spoken, but one of the best bosses I've ever had. She was confident, patient, a great teacher and had a killer sense of humor. The one regret is that she left the company to pursue happiness (although I'd think having me as an employee would be the bomb!).
So, Green Eyed Momster, I don't think the sex of the boss matters, I think it is the qualities that make up the person that do.
When I look back at my career, the strongest bosses who I've learned the most from were women. However, that is not to say, I haven't worked for some crazy-mean-ass women because I have.
17 comments:
I agree with you that it does depend on the person's personality. I've had a great male boss in the past who taught me things, was to the point, and just did the job. Now I have a boy double my age making a disaster of things. I've never been lucky with women bosses yet, maybe in the future!
if the boss is in it for their own glory, gender matters little. my best boss was a woman...who took time to invest in her people.
I have had great bosses and horrible bosses of both sexes. Likewise employees, although the worst employees I've had have been of the male persuasion. But I think it all comes down to the mesh of styles and personalities. Some of the bosses I thought were great I had been warned about being horrible before working for them.
I agree. I have worked for two women. One was an awful bitch, and the other was a delight to work for.
I have been working for a man for the past 8 years and sometimes I love it and some times I hate it. I don't think it has to do with him being a man, it's just that his personality can be hard to deal with.
As a knee-jerk reaction- I'd say men. Then I had to re-think that choice.
My worst boss of all time...I still have nightmares..was a man.
I think the person really matters.As long as you don't micro-manage, I'll be perfectly happy.
I wholeheartedly agree. It's the person, not the gender!
I really do think it's the qualities of the boss as well. And, also how your personality meshes with theirs.
I don't care if the boss is male or female, I just want to get off work early when I feel like it.
Secretia
My experiences have similar to yours. Some of my best bosses were female; however, two of the very worst bosses in my life were women. I worked for a few really great men and some not so great but only one that I didn't care for or respect.
My best boss ever was a woman. But I have to agree that the sex doesn't matter, just the qualities. And then, there's always the fact that I don't like bosses. Lol.
♥Spot
i agree - male or female doesn't matter. it's the personality. i've been fortunate that my last two bosses (one male, one female) really went out of their way to be mentors. i'm a far better lawyer and person for having worked for them.
my boss is a woman. she has been an amazing mentor and supporter to me. i can't really say if i'd prefer a man or woman, but i do know that i absolutely love my boss. working with someone whom i have a good personal relationship with makes me care more about my work.
For the first 60 plus days, my boss was great. I thought we were friends. She's treated me like shit the last couple of days and if she continues to ignore me and not say "good-bye" when she's leaving the building, I'm giving notice. I think she needs me more than I need her now. I'll be doing demos for another company soon.
I can tolerate a lot of behavior but when I notice that someone is avoiding me and I say "I'm sorry if I've said or done anything to make you mad but I didn't mean to" and she says "I'm not mad" when she OBVIOUSLY is, I draw the line. I'm not an idiot and I'm not hard to work with. 5 days ago, she gave me an awesome review. ???
I guess I don't do well with crazy-mean-ass women with anger issues.
Hugs!!
Totally agree with you, it is the person and their qualities that matter not the gender.
I learned a lot from men - and finding out I didn't want to work like them. I've had a woman boss - that went well. I don't know. I think it must come from the person themselves as I've had a sonofabitch for a male boss and a crazy bitch for a woman boss. And totally even keeled, intelligent smart ones on either side as well. Well, guess I'm not a good determiner.
My last boss was a male and he SUCKED. My new boss is a female and she rocks. So.......
i have had both male and female bosses and it depends on the person. some have been the worse people to work for and others have been great. everyone has their own style of managing people and unfortunately some styles are not always good.
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