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AUGUST 14, 2006
By Jack and Suzy Welch Pick Your Poison Wisely Enduring a bad boss can eventually enhance your career, but staying with a good boss at a bad company is nothing but a velvet coffin What's better, to work for a bad boss at a good company or a good boss at a weak company? -- Anonymous, Chicago We've gotten this question several times while traveling around the world, and we have been amazed at how split audiences seem on the answer. Amazed, because to us this is an absolute no-brainer. If you have to pick between these options, by all means, work for the good company! Here's our reasoning. If you are at a truly good company, its leaders will eventually find and dispatch the bad boss. That can take time -- months, or even a year or more. In that case, you might even be rewarded with a promotion for having delivered results during your ordeal. After all, everyone has been there at some point in his or her career, toiling for some turkey who's moody, mean, or just plain incompetent. But even if you're not promoted for your "hardship duty," you will still be better off for having endured a boss from hell. You will be able to stay where you are in the good company with a new and better superior or move sideways to a fresh opportunity. Remember: Any experience you get at a good company where you're working with smart people is worthwhile, and a stint at a company with a sterling reputation gives you an excellent career credential down the road, if you need it. Now think about the other scenario. Without question, having a good boss is one of life's best experiences. Good bosses can make work fun, meaningful, and all those warm, fuzzy things. Good bosses can make work feel like a home away from home. They can make your team feel like a family. In some cases, they can even make you feel like you've found a long lost friend or finally gotten "parental" approval. But the good boss-weak company dynamic is a velvet coffin. All bosses eventually depart. They move up, out, or sideways. And someday your good boss will leave you, too. In fact, good bosses in weak companies are especially vulnerable to change because they have the extra stress of "protecting" their people from the impact of the organization's larger problems. This burden can wear them out or make them political pariahs, or both. Either way, in time they go. In some ways, this question comes down to a choice between short- and long-term gains. In the short term, working for a bad boss, even in a good company, can be a nightmare. But in the long term, when the bad boss is gone, at least you'll have the opportunity to move on. Working for a good boss in the short term can be thoroughly enjoyable even when the company is collapsing around you. Long-term, however, those happy vibes will come back to haunt you. When your boss makes a beeline for the exit, you'll be trapped. Getting a new job after you've worked at a company with a mediocre or poor reputation is hard. It's almost as if you're tainted. So all you'll have is a second-rate credential and nice memories. Do your career a favor and get your memories elsewhere. Is there a short answer for building trust in the workplace? -- Shaffee Suleman, Johannesburg Yes, very short: Say what you mean and do what you say. Look, trust fritters and dies two ways. First, when people aren't candid with one another. When they sugarcoat tough messages. When they use jargon and baloney to purposely make matters obscure and themselves less accountable. The only way to get candor into an organization is for the bosses to identify it as a top value, consistently demonstrate it themselves, and reward those who follow their lead. The second trust-killer is when people say one thing and do another. Again, bosses are the main culprits. They tell people to take risks but nail them when they fail. They endorse stretch budgets and invite their people to dream big, then punish them if the numbers fall short, even at the end of a decent year. They proclaim a commitment to customer service and let the factory ship less-than-perfect product to make the month's sales quota. Or worst of all, they espouse the company's values at the top of their lungs but keep and reward people who don't live according to those values simply because they make the numbers. The message that sends to the organization is: Nothing I say means anything. Don't trust me. Trust, ultimately, isn't very complicated. It's earned through words and actions instilled with integrity.  Jack and Suzy Welch look forward to answering your questions about business, company, or career challenges. Please e-mail them at thewelchway@BusinessWeek.com For their podcast discussion of this column, go to www.businessweek.com/search/podcasting.htm
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