Are You The B-Word?

I was in line at a coffee house and I heard two guys classify their female boss as the B-word. The conversation grabbed my attention. As I listened to their complaints, I could tell their boss was described right. But, I thought it was funny how I immediately started to think about the way men clarify women business owners. I jumped to a discrimination accusation before I heard the entire conversation.

Calling attentive and smart women the B-word is a problem. However, what about the women who embrace this title? Is pushing someone on your staff a good thing? The more the men in line spoke, I realized it wasn’t. They resented her. They went out of their way to do their duties without going the extra mile for her. Had she not been so demanding and so hard on them, these two men probably would have embraced her leadership and gave her more as far as creativity and productivity are concerned.

I grabbed my coffee and I moved on. Here’s the thing. I want you to go into this weekend realizing being a tough doesn’t mean you have to be the B-word. In fact, being harsh is probably going to get you less from your employees than presenting what you need in a nicer manner.

Until Monday,

Coco the CEO