Being Boss or Bossy

It is amazing the things we think about at any given moment on any given day. Just this afternoon I was thinking back to one of my favorite phrases from a very little remembered movie. The movie was "Space Camp", and in the movie there was a very skilled and talented young lady who was just chomping at the bit to be in command ( or so I remember). Because of her skill and confidence, she was always jumping in and trying to take control of the situation and everyone else.

You know those kind, they are so good at their job that they want to do yours too because it can effect theirs and they want control over the outcome no matter what because their life, their career, their growth, their glory, their reputaion, their total being might be messed up or they will be less thought of because they are so good and it's all about THEM! and YOU might mess it up!

Well... her mom told her that being Boss and being Bossy are two different things.

While over the years I've thought about this phrase often, not because I liked the movie but because of the simple truth of the statement. I've thought about the age of a person, experience of a person, maturity, all kinds of factors that would affect such definition of the two, and I've come to a few conclusions.

1. The biggest culprit with being Bossy comes from pride
2. A Bossy person is likely overly competetive
3. A Bossy person is so confident in their ability that they rarely can see that anyone else
has any ability at all. (unless of course it strongly enhances their ability)
4. A Bossy person looks first at who the blame should fall on in case of eminent or potential
failure. (they never seem to have any flaws themselves though)
5. A Bossy person loves the one letter word "I" and they use it often.


1. The Boss, leads with humility
2. The Boss, knows there's a bigger picture.
3. The Boss, knows that those in his/her charge all have talents and abilities.
4. The Boss, takes and accepts the responsibility of the outcome of the job or project.
5. The Boss, uses a two letter word "WE"


I'm sure there are about a thousand books that cover this subject much more scientificly than I
have, but in a nutshell, that's the way I see it.

the way my Pop always said " I don't need to know everything about it or how to do it, I just need to have the right people with me who do".

Yeah Pop... you're a pretty smart guy