Justin G. Roy

Are you like me at all?  Would you rather hear nails on a chalkboard than this answer? 

Recently, somebody who I was talking to responded with “This sounds great, let me ask my boss”

My response: “What do you need to ask your boss?  If it sounds great, let’s move forward.”

Internally I was thinking: Why does this person exist in an organization if he/she cannot make decisions after being employed there for 8 years?

So, of course, this got me to thinking about how we run our organizations.  Granted we all know and expect this type of response when working with/dealing with a high-context culture, but not in the US (low-context).  How can US-based organizations continue to treat their people like minions? 

Perhaps a new company retention strategy should read as follows:  “We encourage you to grow through making decisions and making mistakes.  Hey, mistakes happen and the majority we can get over and move on.  Additionally, you will not be a peon on minion here (but I may still ask you to send in TPS reports).” 

Has anybody else ever come across this?  I imagine mostly in sales.  Does it drive anybody else up the wall?

Perhaps I should have make this a gear grinder

Can you? Be your own boss, I mean? That’s the title of an interesting article I came across recently, authored by Robin Ryan. The piece makes some good points on issues that come up a lot in my discussions with candidates in the consulting engineering industry. Many recruits with whom I speak tell me that, someday, they would like to own their own company, and be their own boss. Some engineers, in my opinion, have the abilities and drive required to do so. Some don’t.

Give this article a read, and see if you have what it takes to be your own boss. What do you think? Let me know.