The levels of being a "cool" boss (from the vault)

A wretched "Boss Day" to those who celebrate

Today is “Boss Day” in America, a day where employees are supposed to kowtow to their supervisors, as if that expectation didn’t exist every single day.

To mark the occasion, I’m re-posting a piece from a little bit under two years ago where I, prompted by a post by Dr. Devon Price, explored whether it’s possible to ever be an “ethical” boss and spitballed a framework of different “levels” to guide anyone trying to be an ethical, antiwork-forward boss.

This was the first post on here to gain anything close to mass traction. By my estimate, however, more than half of you joined BQE after it came out. Back when I wrote it, I said I was squarely in level three, doing none of the “top level” actions suggested by Dr. Price. A couple years later, I’m happy to report that I’ve become comfortable with many of these practices, short of trying to form a union. Growth!

I hope you enjoy this (by internet standards, anyway) throwback.