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#sp: Busting the Myth of Being a Boss

Sometimes I look at people working at McDonald's when I order Egg McMuffin for breakfast in early morning and think, "Damn, these people are working hard. I think they should be paid higher than their bosses in the head office who just sit around all they in their airconditioned rooms." But I don't think of that very often, because that's not what I believe in. And I also don't feel sorry for those service crew. Here's why.

Let me offer an explanation by busting the myth of being a boss. Some people think bosses get paid by just sitting all day behind their desk and ordering people around, and just basically sign documents. And then get a fat paycheck thereafter.

No. That's not how it works.

A lot of people think that work is just based on physical activity, and they think those who sweat more should get more. If you follow that logic, rich people should be paid for going to the gym instead of paying their membership dues to the gym club.


Work depends on certain skill sets. Skill sets can refer to education and experience (which is commonly required for bosses), or it could refer to a learning curve of some learned technical skill. Staff at McDonald's just do a routine job. They go there everyday for the same reason: they fry burgers, take people's orders, and balance their registers. Every. Single. Time. That is basically it. It may be tiring, but it requires less effort.

People at management work differently. They receive a lot of reports from their subordinates and analyze these reports. They then recommend measures to the Board of Directors on how to improve efficiency, service delivery, how to cut costs, and how to meet their sales targets. They develop products in research and development, they engineer the product mix to get the best results, and they get fired when annual revenues fall. They do a lot of work. And a lot of thinking.

When I look at organizations, I look at how the frontline people operate. Because that is the reflection of their organizational culture. Because in turn, that is what they see from their bosses. And that makes them as who they are as a company.

Because you see, if bosses simply just sit around in the office all day, then that boss is useless.

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This feature article was written for McDonald's world chain of restaurants. #sp

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