Be Not Afraid of the Boss

Hello High Heelers

So my man met my mentor of shoes (and many other things), Ms Natalie Maroun this week. Now he is an intensely private person, in contrast to me. As you’ve probably noticed, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I put it all out there for public scrutiny and sacrifice. So, my mister, desensitised by my over-sharing ways, walked right into Natalie’s office, introduced himself proudly and followed up with the fabulous phrase: “Wow, you’re not so scary at all! Jo described you as way scarier!”

Now. I could use an expletive round about here, but this is a ‘clean’ and inspirational blog. Goodness me! (see the good, clean exclamation?) I nearly died. However, I see that I have created a misconception here. As this is not the first time Natalie has been called ‘scary’ as a result of my words. When Nats was on Top Billing TV show (because she has one of the most beautiful homes in the world – of course!) my phone buzzed for hours afterwards by people who were surprised at how lovely and kind she seemed – not scary at all! Again, goodness me!

Right, let me clear something up, again. My boss is not scary. She does not petrify me and she does not violently tear off the heads of little children and feed their bodies to vultures (well, not that I know of). On the contrary, she is hugely generous, she’s ridiculously (and I really mean RIDICULOUSLY) kind, she’s caring and she is a highly affectionate person who is always full of praise when people do well. Do badly however – and she’ll rip your head off and… ok. You get the point. It’s simple – you don’t mess up.

But the very important fact here is that I am not scared of Natalie Maroun. And neither should you be. In fact you should never be afraid of anyone, particularly your boss. You see, if you want to climb, and you know you do, you need to be fearless. You need to stand confident in your heels, your beliefs and your ideas and you should be allowed the space to be yourself. If you’re constantly whimpering behind a scary boss you’re not being heard, you’re not being seen and you won’t be able to find success (because success doesn’t find you, I’m afraid).

If your boss bullies you, they are not a very good boss at all. And you won’t be able to perform well under them, for constant fear of failure (or even success). My only suggestion if you’re in this situation is to push the fear aside, be as sensitive as possible and continue doing what you believe to be right. Either your boss will calm down when they realise your intentions, or they won’t. If they don’t, all I can say is – find a better boss (sorry!)

If you are a boss, remember that it is your duty to lead by example. How you behave, dress and speak will be an influence on your subordinates. People don’t do what you say, they do what you do. So do good and be motivational in every way possible (like my boss ).

This week stand up to anyone who stands in your way. You were born to stand tall, so pull others up with you and walk onward and upward.

Cheers,
Jo