Last updated on February 5th, 2022 at 02:49 am
If you get a solid eight hours of sleep every night, I’m pretty sure that you’ve never experienced the haze. That’s what I’m feeling right now—the haze that settles over you when you’re not quite asleep, but very much not awake—you’re somewhere in between, vaguely aware as time passes all around you. Some people chase after the feelings of calm and nonchalance that the haze can provide through using drugs or alcohol—for me, it all came down to an urgent presentation that was assigned late and due at noon the next day.
You see, my boss and I—we’re good. He’s the same guy who gave me a job a couple of years back when I was sitting on my butt unemployed for two months. The same guy who wanted to make sure I landed okay at work and gave me every opportunity possible to develop and showcase my skills—to the extent where he invited me to be a vocalist in his band a couple of times. He’s cool peoples.
What does that mean for the working dynamic, though?
A Boss Doesn’t ALWAYS Make for a LEADER.
There are more kinds of bosses in the world than there are colours in a rainbow. (So yes, more than 7.) The micromanagers. The doormats. Those who hate everybody equally and want them to be just as miserable as they are. But it takes a certain kind of leader to inspire loyalty.
When I say loyalty, I don’t mean the blind loyalty you often see at work where people will do whatever is asked of them because their boss is: a) at a certain level of authority; b) a person who knows people; or c) fearsome if they are not followed without question. No, I mean the type of loyalty where you choose to work for someone because you share their vision. You choose to empower their good ideas and openly question the bad ones. Or in my case, I chose to be up at all hours making a PowerPoint presentation as great as I could, because I knew he was in a bind.
THAT’S the kind of loyalty I’m talking about—the kind we extend to only a select few who we trust and believe in. It’s hard to come by, much like trust (as trust is definitely one of the factors needed for this degree of loyalty), but you know when it’s something you have, as they’re the people you won’t hesitate to ask things. You won’t worry about giving them bad news. You generally just don’t worry about how things will turn out, because you know one way or another, they’ll work out the way they need to.
Great Bosses: The Kind of People You’re Willing to Lose Some Sleep For.
So yes, I don’t mind the haze. I’m definitely going to bed right after this post is up, and for sure it’s been quite the challenging day, but I think it was all worth it. We’ll see tomorrow morning whether my labours bear any fruit, but even if it doesn’t, I know that the team I worked with put in their best effort to come out with a quality product, and that’s never a bad thing.
If you’re willing to stay up till 4 am in the name of the job, you’re probably crazy. Either that, or you know you’re trying to help someone who you know would do the same for you were the roles reversed.
And that’s a whole different kind of crazy, but it is really so bad?
263/365
