The So-Called “Chief Style”
Alright, so everyone’s yapping about this “chief style” thing. You hear it all the time, right? Like you gotta have this commanding presence, this way of doing things that screams “I’m the boss.” For a while, I actually bought into that, thought that’s what it took to get stuff done, especially when you’re trying to lead a project or even just manage your own damn workload.
I remember this one gig I had. The main manager, let’s just call him “The Chief.” He had a style, alright. And it was THE “chief style” as far as he was concerned. Everything, and I mean everything, had to go through him, had to be done his way. No questions asked, or well, you could ask, but you’d get “the look.” He thought this top-down, iron-fist approach was peak efficiency. His way or the highway, basically.
So, what happened? Well, at first, yeah, maybe some small tasks got ticked off the list a bit quicker because there was no discussion. Just do it. But then, man, things started to go south. Creativity? Dead. People just became robots. Why bother thinking or suggesting something new if it’s just gonna get shot down or, worse, ignored? Team meetings were a joke; he’d talk, we’d nod.
- Nobody dared to point out obvious flaws in his plans.
- Good ideas from junior folks? Buried six feet under.
- Everyone was just covering their own backsides.
We had this one big project, a real make-or-break thing for the department. The Chief laid out the entire plan, every tiny detail, all by himself. His “chief style” in full glory. And guess what? It had some massive holes. A few of us saw them, whispered about them in the break room, but nobody had the guts to tell him directly. We tried to hint, real subtle-like, but he wasn’t having any of it. “Stick to the plan!” he’d bark.
Long story short, that project tanked. Hard. It wasn’t pretty. Lots of finger-pointing, mostly from him, downwards, of course. A few good people left after that. I was one of ’em, not long after. I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. It wasn’t just about the failed project; it was the whole atmosphere. It was draining. It felt like we were set up to fail, just so his “style” could be proven right, even when it was dead wrong.
That whole mess really got me thinking about this “chief style.” Is it really about one person dictating everything? Or is that just a recipe for disaster, dressed up as strong leadership? For me, I realized that my kind of “chief style,” if I ever get to call the shots properly, ain’t gonna be like that. It’s gotta be about getting folks to want to do good work, to bring their brains to the table, not just their hands. It’s about listening, even when it’s not what you want to hear. It takes more patience, sure, but at least you’re not flying blind with a crew that’s too scared to speak up.
As for that old place? Last I heard, they were still trying to push projects through with that same old top-down approach. Still wondering why good people don’t stick around. Some styles, no matter how “chief” they seem, just don’t cut it in the long run.
