Last week Bill Clinton was on The Daily Show. I am a huge fan of Bill Clinton and of The Daily Show, so this was, to me, the best episode.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Exclusive - Bill Clinton Extended Interview Pt. 1 | ||||
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Something that Clinton said has stuck with me:
"You know we only have one president at a time so I put on whatever expression he thinks I should."
"You should always suck up to the boss"
This is not something that is in my DNA. I know it is a DNA thing, because I do not see it in my parent's or my kid's.
However, over the years I have been a subordinate and a leader/boss and I have begun to understand the authentic value of taking the stance of "sucking up to the boss." I do have my guidelines and legitimate reasons why though.
- You need to be able to respect the boss. I do not respect titles. I have seen too many people in a leadership role because they have stepped on others to get there, stolen ideas, and sucked up for the wrong reasons. I respect people. People who earn their way to the top. Those people know something that I need to know. They have earned the right to be sucked up to. For example, I really doubt Clinton would have had the same sentiment towards Bush.
- The Boss knows more than you do. Many times I have seen "the boss" lack knowledge that I have and therefore make decisions I would not have agreed to. What I have learned through the years is the boss has different kinds of knowledge than I have and I need to trust they are doing the best based on what they know, which often times is a much broader scope of knowledge than what I have. Therefore, be prepared to share necessary information, but do not stand in the way of the boss' decisions.
- If you help the right people succeed, they will take you with them, and when the time is right, might even support you as you lead the way. The key here is it has to be the right people. You can waste a lot of time and even smear your own good name by trying to help people who are simply "all talk" "full of BS" or "overly self-absorbed."
So, in thinking about this I began to question the limitations of Pride. Pride is a very odd thing, in that it is very positive in that is boost a person's self esteem and is the foundation of confidence, but when reached in danger zone levels it is one of the 7 deadly sins where you can only see your own achievements and lack the humility to believe in others. Clinton has had some great accomplishments in his life, but he still has the ability to find the humility to "suck up to the boss."