Message #43338

[twhfan]

The best boss I ever had wasn't always nice, but she was always fair.  She was a whirlwind of energy and so charismatic and dynamic that you could feel it when she entered a room.  She was picky, fussy, and very "high maintnenance" (her words), but she managed to inspire others to do more than they thought they were capable of.  She pushed me and prodded me and challenged me constantly, but she also guided and encouraged me and was very quick and lavish with her praise when deserved.  

She was a passionate believer in self-improvement and furthering one's education but always emphasized that we needed to do it for ourselves, not for her.  She would find funds and allow us to arrange our work schedules for any educational offerings that we wanted to attend.

She managed to blow the lid off our corporate culture (a dictatorship with the CEO and CFO calling every shot) and turn it into what it is today - a culture that listens to it's employees and gives employees a say in processes that affect our work.  I remember sitting with my mouth gaping open when she insisted that we shouldn't just accept "their word for why and how we do things - push them for explanations, make them justify what they want you to do".  We had NEVER questioned anything, we just did it and kept quiet.  To my amazement, when we did as she said, the CEO and CFO often couldn't give us explanations, and instead ended up listening to us and instituting our suggestions, just as my boss had had promised.  

On a personal note, when she learned that my dog was terminally ill, she encouraged me to take time off to seek different opinons for care and treatment, and when my dog died, she sat with me for a half hour while I sobbed. I had never lost control of my emotions at work before. She called me later that night at home to see if I was ok.  The dog meant the world to me, and she understood - she never said, "It's only a dog" or discounted my feelings.  It was the only glimpse of a "warm and fuzzy" side of her I ever saw.

In short, she was absolutely amazing.  I didn't always like her, but I always admired and respected her, and I truly felt she always had her employees' best interests at heart.  

I miss her. *sigh*