I was lucky, I had 2.
Both happened in the first 10 years of my work career. With so many changes in bosses in the latter half of my work life, I might have gotten a bit jaded by then and I might already have set a much higher benchmark for future bosses. But these 2 still stand out for me in my 29 years in banking.
Both of these bosses helped shaped and solidify my beliefs and foundations of what a great boss should be like. You walk the talk, transparency is important, do not assume that bosses can read minds, periodic one on one sessions are critical and come prepared.
Both of them overlapped each other and it was around the mid-nineties, just before the Asian Crisis had happened. I was just out of school with only a few years of work experience, having just switched jobs from a local bank to join the American bank where I would stay for the next 19 years.
The first boss (F) was just 5 years my senior but he had a fire in his belly that was super infectious to all of us. He taught us to work hard but to play hard too. I remember one of his first team meetings well… He introduced himself and said that he was the captain of a ship. His goal is to direct the vessel and bring the team forward. If one member falls down for the first time, he will help to pick him up. If the same member falls down a second time and slows the ship, he will take out his gun and shoot the person.
That last statement made everyone in the meeting sure made all of us sit up in our chairs immediately. His message was crystal clear. We all have to be team players and given one chance to buck up, but we cannot afford to become a drag to the team after that.
He was hired from overseas to stir a sleepy team and invigorate the business. He sure did. I was energized to perform and laser-focused on what I needed to do after that. I frequently seek his counsel and he shared freely his thoughts and advice to whoever needs it. Even after he left for another bigger role overseas in less than 2 years, I continued to reach out to him periodically. Later, he did also helped me to secure a new role within the bank that eventually lasted me another 10 years. There is a part 2 to this story of how we worked together again later in my career, which I will cover later.
The other great boss (B) I had was soon after the first one. He was an all-knowing supervisor that seemed to always know more about the person before the one on one meeting had even started. He always does his homework before the meeting started, gathering information from all unlikely sources. He was a sharp inquisitor and in every session, I could feel that I was “brain-fucked”. He could question and probe till one just had to spill his guts out to him.
At this stage of my career, I was pushed off the cliff into the deep end because half of our team had suddenly abandoned the ship and moved over to the other corporate desk. As I was the longest-serving member (3 years) in the team, I became its new head by default. And then the Asian crisis arrived at our doorstep. With just a 5 man team and running the ASEAN treasury desk, I was stressed out of my wits.
He was always at the background, guiding me and giving me subtle pieces of advice. I learnt from him the phrase “I may be wrong, but…”. It made the suggestion more palatable and less confrontational. He supported me constantly even though others talk behind my back and indicated that I was too inexperienced to take on this supervisory role.
The unforgettable moment came in 1997 when the Indonesian economy was collapsing. My team made a trading error which was discovered at the end of the day. It did not help that on the same evening Suharto was rumoured to have had a heart attack. The USDIDR currency moved quickly from 3,000 to 3,900 within the day and it was a Friday evening. I was totally at a loss on what I had to do by then.
I requested to see B immediately to update him on the situation. One look at me and he probably knew that I was about to lose it. He calmly told me that it was OK, just go cut the position and call him any time over the weekend if I want to. To calm me further, he told me that he had bigger problems on his hands that run into the millions of dollars to settle.
I went back to my desk and liquidated the unwanted USD 2.5 million position. The loss was around USD 700,000. I could not sleep for the whole weekend and I expected to be fired when I return to work on Monday. It did not happen. Instead, B asked me to write an error report and tasked another seasoned colleague to review the episode to get down to the underlying issues to suggest procedural changes to beef up the system. This was to prevent a similar vent from happening again. Being short-handed was one of the main reasons – we had a non-professional clerical staff that was helping out and hence the error. I believe that this case and another case of mine (rogue Japanese Relationship Manager trading USDJPY) became textbook study cases of the private bank in the years that followed… 🙁
I am still in touch with B. He moved on to bigger roles and did very well, eventually became the CEO of Asia. He just retired last year and has recently started a Fintech company in HK for the new gig economy. An extremely likeable guy.
I believe that great bosses happen when the stars align themselves when the people and situations presented to us and the chemistry was right. It does not last long, at best a few years and then we all move on. But the treasured moments and memories shared in times of hardship and stress remain with oneself forever.
A previously great boss might not remain as one in the future, as people and conditions change over time. I had the opportunity to work with F again many years later as he opened up an opportunity for me after I was retrenched. By then, he was a changed man, being very bitter that life has not given him the opportunities that he had given others. This second round of working under him was extremely difficult for me. Ultimately, I could not even trust if what he was telling me was true or that he had a hidden agenda every time we spoke. Even my wife warned me about not believing everything he said. He lost all interest in his job and I had to figure out most of the things myself in a toxic work environment. Eventually, I had also resigned 9 months after he left.
I was lucky that in my 29 years of work career, I have had 2 great bosses. Some people may have worked all their lives without ever encountering one. I count my blessings. It is my wish that everyone should have at least one great boss in their working lives.
A strange thing that happened to me this week. A good friend suggested that I have a chat with someone that may have a job opening that could interest me. We met on Friday afternoon and the first thing she said to me was: “I read your CV. You could be my boss.” That about ended the opportunity discussion before it even started. So we talked about everything under the sun after that. She kindly offered to pass my CV to the group level for possible further chats. Well, that’s that then.
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