CORPORATE | Lessons from Boss

Lessons from Boss

There are days/nights when I think about the amazing bosses I've worked with in the past. I figured that most of my bosses are non Filipinos (except for the big wigs at Citibank, NA during my internship). I worked with Korean, American and now German. I feel like my corporate training has become so multi cultural. For this series, I would like to share important lessons from my bosses.

The Korean: Share Your Knowledge

• One of the most memorable learnings I had from my Korean boss is to constantly acquire new skills and share them with people.
• Treat the clients as if they are the most important to you.
• Be practical on all aspects. Be it a new phone, computer, router, etc. Maximizing resources is a must.
• Talk to employees politely.
• Celebrate birthdays and throw parties to lift up the spirit.
• And most important of all, never give up. Always remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The American: KISS (Keep It Simple and Short)

• Brevity would perhaps be the perfect term to use to describe everything I learned from my American boss. He is a very busy man but whenever I send him any write up on policies, he makes sure that wordings are in their shortest form. I realized that I have this tendency to be so verbose that I lose what I really want to say.
• Always write in the active form. Well, I've always written in the passive form, but the active form shows more assertiveness and strong character.
• You can be aggressive but not angry. This is a trick that I was trying to emulate but might take me some time. What he does is he plays the communication well, that he is able to dominate the discussion leaving the other party no room for rebuttals.
• Call the person by the name.
• Don't talk unless you have to say something, and don't let the other person interrupt you. Say, "let me finish."
• When you enter his room, make sure that you have all the answers with you.
• Leave out the fillers like- ah, uhm, I think, etc. Especially "I think". Oh, how he raises his voice when he hears this term. To him, you need to make sure that facts are accurate. You can't depend on what you think.
• Don't try. Just do.

The Filipino: Mentoring 

• Do what you can within the day
• Don't sweat the small stuff
• If you're not happy with what you are doing, then find the one that really makes you do.
• Always put your heart and mind on whatever you do.
• Never cheat on people. Trust cannot be the same once you broke it.
• Communicate constantly and escalate issues if they are too difficult. Refrain from reporting when things are out of hand.
• Plan early. It saves you time and money.
• Value the people who are loyal to you and genuine. Ignore the ones who are fake.
• Be generous

The German: Do Not Complicate Things

• Always be on time
• Meet your deadlines
• Communicate effectively and clearly
• Speak out whenever appropriate
• On time is better than perfection
• Decisions are made based on sound reasoning, and sometimes requires opinions from others
• Make a list