I came back from honeymoon to a new job (OK, I admit it, this is a story from many… too vague?… 28 years ago but trust me, it’s still relevant) and a new boss.  Not just a new boss, but as the company who hired me had been merged with (taken over by) another company, the new boss wasn’t even the same guy who had interviewed me and offered me the job in the first place.

So, as you can imagine, I went to my first day with some trepidation.

As it happened, Alastair became the leader I would judge all others against.  Alastair was a boss I would do pretty much anything for.  Alastair was the leader I always hoped to become.  Alastair was a loved leader.

What made me feel like this?

He did Back Me Up

I specifically recall a time when the big bosses were in town and they complained about something that hadn’t worked quite right.  They did it in such a way that meant they thought it was my fault.  Alastair couldn’t have known whether I had got things right or wrong but he backed me to the hilt without blinking an eyelid when I was asked about what I had done.

He Did Hold me Accountable

After that incident and when the brass was gone, he came to me and asked for information about the situation.  He left me in no doubt that if I got it wrong I would be in trouble.  Not necessarily for making a mistake but if I had given wrong information to him to try to keep myself out of trouble…  (Fortunately I hadn’t!)

He Did Care about Raewyn and Me

As a newly married couple Alastair seemed to know that decisions I made would impact my marriage more than I would understand.  He often discussed this with me and the fact that he really did care about how we were going made a heck of a difference to me.

Are you a leader that people want to work for?

If you aren’t, it may be worth trying to find out why that is.

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