Many business owners we’ve spoken with didn’t start with a huge team on day one. They had to learn how to be a good boss, but the problem is the books on leadership are often highly theoretical and so we wanted to hear practical examples of what it means to be a good boss. So, we asked some brilliant, insightful folks to share stories about the best bosses they’ve had.

Ace Currie-Clay

The best boss I’ve ever had was myself. Living as an entrepreneur or creative can be extremely hard. It has truly been a full eye-opening journey thus far. You are your own toughest critic. Sometimes you want to even shy away from holding yourself accountable but eventually through patience & love you work yourself through it. Eventually that shows in your artwork, then it will seep into the public. You become an inspiration & motivation to others from this “work” that you are doing externally & internally. It is a truly fulfilling experience. Read more>>

Tara Krauss

I graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in 1996. That spring before graduation, a New Orleans shipping company recruited at the academy for various positions within the company. The company extended job offers to a handful of graduating midshipmen- myself included. I had never been to New Orleans before and the transition from New York to New Orleans was as large as the transition from Montana to New York had been 4 years earlier. The summer after graduation, we filtered into the company and were dispersed among the various departments. I didn’t know then what an impact my department assignment would have on me, both professionally and personally. Read more>>

Shelby Scarbrough

A girl couldn’t get more lucky. My very first boss was Ronald Reagan. Of course, I had more immediate supervisors at the White House who were equally impactful because they embodied the concept that we were there to represent the president of the United States and the Presidency, not our own. What a fantastic laboratory to learn to be a professional. Some of Ronald Reagan’s character traits profoundly affected me and how I look at the world. He had a saying on his desk that was actually a quote from a previous president that said, “There’s no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go as long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit.” Read more>>

Kathleen Mulready

My boss of 8 years taught me the importance of a business owner taking radical responsibility for every aspect of the business. Most importantly, he taught me that this sense of responsibility must extend to protecting everyone on the team. While the phrase “the customer is always right” holds some merit, my boss instilled in me that this only applies as far as maintaining one’s dignity. I remember taking a call from a potential customer who had an endless list of requests. He wanted a tutor that had attended an Ivy League school, who had scored beyond a certain threshold on the SAT (despite his daughter being in elementary school), who had worked with students at a specific school, and to narrow it down even further, his daughter was only available one specific hour, one day a week. Read more>>

James A. Faulkner

This is a bit of a toss-up. I was working for a Dutch Computer Company back in the mid to late 80s as a Benchmark Artist. The company was based in Torrance during that period and my position was to create package design and other graphics in order to sell the Aesthedes Computer System ( a pre-press computer graphics machine) to design firms, other companies such as RJ Reynolds, Proctor, and Gamble. I was in a fairly corporate and corporate environment. I had to wear a suit and tie to work for four days of a week. While doing a presentation for a Los Angeles-based design firm the Rod Dyer Group I was greatly impressed by the work they were doing and their client base. Read more>>

Seairra Hulbert

Best supervisor I ever had was Suzanne Szabo . This all started after I graduated from Aveda institute in 2017 . Very first salon after hair school. Suzanne what is the Creator Director and salon manager at Keri Gold salon. She taught me so much about hair in the hair business. It was really funny because they used to call me Lil Suzanne in the salon because I started picking up her habits and hair techniques positions in stances when doing hair. She was a great mentor confidant salon manager, and business woman. , she was a great mentor, confidant salon, manager, business woman Suzanne put everyone in position to be able to run their own businesses and become successful. There’s many stories I can tell there’s many stories I can tell . I remember my first day on the floor after going through applying a root touchup many times on a hair manikin there was a client who did not want me to touch her hair. Read more>>

Victoria Kelley

The best boss I had was back in Richmond VA, His name was Columbus. He pushed me to be not only a better employee but a better overall person. He knew exactly what to say to push me to work harder. Once I got my first big paycheck. I understood his “work hard to play hard” motto. I use that in my business now. Work hard in order to play hard. Honestly, Its like playing all the time it doesnt feel like work because we love what we do. Read more>>

Jodi Norgaarden

The best boss I ever had taught me to believe in my self. He believed every person he hired was a homerun hitter. Having someone trust and believe in you that much makes you work hard and believe you can do anything. He was fair, honest, hard working and open about the businesses successes and failures. Everyone’s opinion mattered. The position I had was selling over the phone and he let me run my accounts as I saw fit which taught me a lot about running a successful business. Most of all he led by example and was the hardest working person in his business.  Read more>>

Jahan Nostra

Paul T. Jones is the greatest boss I ever had. He is a great leader, entrepreneur, philanthropist and most importantly, he is a great person. I will always appreciate him for his mentorship, guidance, down to earth approach, and help with me starting my own business. He was a great leader because he put morals above financial gain. The impact he had on me was huge. He emphasized the importance of business and entrepreneurship and the importance of giving back to communities in need. Read more>>