We often hear about bad bosses, but we think it’s important to talk about the good ones because we hope that by giving folks examples of how to be a good boss we can inspire future bosses to be better, to do better for their employees and all stakeholders.

 Suzy Ryan

The best boss I ever had, Joe McNulty, was my boss during my small-town Kansas community swimming pool high school job. Months before Mr. McNulty hired me, my alcoholic stepfather kicked me out of the house. By some miracle, my high school math teacher and tennis coach’s brother and his wife allowed me to live with them until I finished high school. As a sixteen-year-old homeless girl, I was desperate to make money, so I was thankful Mr. McNulty gave me the job. Formerly my junior high school math teacher and track coach, Mr. McNulty had continually looked out for me and knew my home life had left me an at-risk kid. Read more>>

Terron Sims, II

The best “boss” I ever had was my second Squadron commander, LTC Mark Calvert, who had over 800 soldiers under his command. When he took command of the Squadron, I was a platoon leader. A little more than a month into our deployment in Baghdad, Iraq, to simplify the story, he placed me in charge of our Squadron’s civil military operations. Understand, that the Baghdad district (Tisa Nissan) of which we had command-and-control had 1.25 million people and was 139 sq km. I oversaw every aspect of municpal government operations for Tisa Nissan, including standing up and liaising on behalf of the district council and its 10 neighborhood districts. Read more>>

Brydie Huffman

“You need to get yourself a mentor” she said to me on my first day. One of the many lessons bestowed upon me by the best boss I ever had. She was tough, and she had the work ethic and sense of curiosity to back it up. Non-profit work isn’t for the weak of heart, and in my first big-girl job I was learning that fast. Read more>>

Nick Daily

I once had a supervisor that I can say was truly one of the best supervisors I ever had, Lydia Middleton. She was excellent at ensuring clarity of communication and providing specificity in duties expected to be completed. For instance, on my first day in the office, Lydia provided me with a four page document detailing the overall scope of my role as well as what success would look like in each area. After allowing me to review the document, we talked about the feasibility of each task within the identified timeline and she accepted my input in the final outcome. Even with this document, we were able to consistently re-visit and revise my duties as new and unexpected items came up. Another thing that makes her stand out is that she and I took our work seriously, but didn’t take ourselves seriously, so in our office, we regularly had dance parties before meetings, chatted about work and life, and even dressed as each other for Halloween one year! Because I couldn’t imagine my work without Lydia, she currently acts as a Senior Associate with LuvServedDaily because of her attention to detail, know how, and approach to developing managers and leaders with compassion and attention to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Read more>>

Allie Bar-or

I am a true believer that life is about the journey and not the destination and that every experience is valuable even if the path you take zig zags or in my case completely changes tracks. I was very fortunate early on to have two inspiring female bosses/mentors. Interestingly, they were both at internships in wildly different fields (television production and law) and neither the field I now call my profession. What stands out when I reflect on the time I spent which each of these mentors isn’t what they instructed me on, but rather what they didn’t—what they left me to figure out on my own. I was so accustomed to always being told what to do and to always ask copious questions but these women didn’t tell me what to do and they had no time questions-they needed me to just get it done even if I had to pretend that I knew what i was doing. Read more>>

Kelly Bayett

The best boss I ever had, is probably the worst boss I ever had. There is opportunity in everything, and the worst boss can teach you so much. He would start every employee review talking about how replaceable we all were, and God forbid something ever happened to him he was replaceable. Everyone was deflated and no one asked for what they really wanted and they would always think about leaving, or they would become complacent in their work. Read more>>

Nicole Watson

I’m delighted to share my experience with Ms. Tillie O’Neal, who became a cherished mentor during my journey. Ms. Tillie’s impact on my life extends beyond the corporate realm, as I had the privilege of being a graduate of the Every Woman Works (EWW) program that she founded. Read more>>