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Showerthought: A visit to my old high school's career day made me see bosses differently
I was back in my hometown of Springfield last month and went to the school to talk about my fencing job. The teacher running the event was micromanaging every single student volunteer, barking orders about where to put chairs and how to stack pamphlets. It hit me that this is exactly how my last boss, Gary, acted. He'd hover and correct tiny things that didn't matter, like the font on internal meeting notes. That teacher created a tense, slow room where nobody wanted to step up. Has anyone else had a moment where you saw a manager's bad habits mirrored somewhere totally unexpected?
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hill.barbara5d ago
Actually, sometimes that level of detail is needed to get things right. Maybe that teacher had been burned before by volunteers doing a sloppy job. A boss focusing on small stuff can prevent bigger mistakes later. It's easy to call it micromanaging, but someone has to care about the details. That kind of control might come from past experience, not just being difficult.
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