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I think it’s dangerous to be friends with bosses, it can cause you to lose perspective on what the relationship between you and your work actually is: you sell
by mathieuh 6y ago
I think it’s dangerous to be friends with bosses, it can cause you to lose perspective on what the relationship between you and your work actually is: you sell your labour, usually for far less than it is worth to the company.
I believe it is healthier to have a stark perspective on what is actually happening in employer/employee relationships, and keep work as something that I do in order to be able to afford a place to live and food to eat and nothing more. Whether I enjoy whatever job I have at the time is secondary to this: it’s a bonus, but again I try very hard not to let my job become a part of how I see myself.
If you let yourself become “friends” with your boss I think you’re in danger of blurring these lines and getting into the strange position where not only must you do something you don’t necessarily want to do, but you must do it or let a “friend” down. This seems like a fast-track way of burning out.
- restingrobot 6y agoA real friend would understand if you told them you don't want to do something. As a manager I'm not super interested in making people do things they don't want to do anyways. Obviously its unavoidable sometimes, but I think most employees also understand this.
- sokoloff 6y agoI hope that I'm selling my labor to my company for less than it's worth. Otherwise, I've put a giant target on my back for elimination. The company is taking a risk by employing me and paying me no matter what I produce; I don't mind at all at they make a profit on the transaction and seek to keep it that way.
- restingrobot 6y agoExactly this! There is no reason why both laborer and company can't be happy. Work is a mutually beneficial arrangement and as a manager I get to make sure that is true for both parties! I hate when people have the mentality that life, work, or happiness is a zero sum game.
- bluntfang 6y agodisagree. if you think you're being over paid you probably aren't. If company is paying you an exorbitant amount of money it probably means they think you are indisposable. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but this is the other side of your perspective.
- patrickthebold 6y agoIf you are at $BigCorp there's probably only a rough correlation between what you are paid and what you are worth.
- rdtwo 6y agoIf that the correlation is better between how much that manager likes you and who you are related to
- arkitaip 6y agoHow does that mentality serve you when it's time to negotiate your salary or benefits?
- restingrobot 6y agoIF you're worth way more than you're getting paid, negotiations should be super easy. This is probably a terrible analogy, but think of working like mining diamonds and the employer like selling cut stones. If you mine huge diamonds with fairly regular frequency asking to get paid more is a no brainer for you and the company.
- sokoloff 6y agoIt's served me fairly well so far. The key isn't to minimize my ask; the key is maximize my value and then ask for something where I'm making good money and the company is making that amount plus all the benefits and other costs plus a margin on my labor so everyone leaves the transaction better off. The last thing I want is for a company in the business of employing @sokoloff to be in a money-losing business thereby.
- rdtwo 6y agoYour manager is not your employer it’s an important distinction. Your manager is someone who can get you what you want(more money) at no personal cost to him/her self. Moreover having someone loyal in higher positions is benifical to the manager as well.