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.

Sydnie Williams

For me I am luck enough to say that I’ve had a few amazing bosses in my life. But the most relevant would be my boss while working for Great American Cookie. Her name was Simone. Her and her husband Al owned the store. While working there they gave me the opportunity to truly experiment with my art on a brand new canvas. They pushed my creativity, taught me how yo problem solve, deal with “fun” (lol difficult) customers and how to network. They gave me an opportunity to grow and I’ll forever be grateful. Read more>>

Chris Miller

Best Bosses I ever had were a couple out of San Francisco named Steve Hoffman and Naomi Kokubo. I worked with them on two occasions in my career. The first time was back in 2007-2008 when they needed an illustrator and animator for their site called RocketOn which was like a Neopets site where you could create your own avatar and pets. The second time I worked with them was in 2012 and it was my first time working in social games. I was a concept artist, and 2-d animator for the games Yumby Toss and Yumby Smash. Read more>>

Lucy Cannon

Ms. Mary Peagler was the Director of Social Work at North Alabama Regional Hospital, Decatur, GA approximately 25 years ago, I was a supervisor in her department. She was very encouraging and supportive of me as a new social worker in a new state. When I did not pass my Social Work Exam (This was a requirement to stay in the position), she was very helpful and provided a great deal of educational support throughout my stay at this organization. Read more>>