Have Empathy for How Your Boss Feels: This Isn't about You

The BusinessInsider headline screams that bosses don't care how you feel. So, you are mandated RTO. Forget big bonuses. Promotions have become a pipe dream.

But embedded in this article with the sensationalistic lead-in is the reality that those bosses are under tremendous pressure. That extends from shareholder demands to cut costs to managing generative AI to achieve a competitive advantage.

This should push ambitious employees to do what had always been a fundamental in getting ahead: Make bosses look good. Part of that is understanding their unique stresses at the time. Maybe the CEO was down on them. Their child was ill. Their blood pressure tended to spike. Yes, care about how the bosses feel.

The professional anonymous networks such as Reddit, Fishbowl, Blind and Glassdoor are jam-packed with balking about how workers are being treated. Yet, there has been little feedback that supposed shabby treatment never really mattered to the big winners in the American brand of capitalism. The winning ethos has always been: This isn't about me.

Instead of junior lawyers complaining on Reddit Big Law about partners' checking in early on a Sunday morning to find out how a draft is going, the shift should be to compassion for the direct squeeze clients are putting on partners. That sense of empathy will come through. Bonds are made. Bonds continue to get strengthened. Sulking breeds alienation. 

In turn, smart partners should have great empathy for their clients. A SuperLawyer article on current chair of law firm Paul Weiss Brad Karp recounts how he would struggle through the night to come up with exactly the best solution for a client. One client had wondered if Karp ever sleeps. Karp got it that "this" - work for clients - wasn't about him.

Forever we career coaches have been telling those we guide: Put yourself in the bosses' shoes. The extension could be: Do that and the bosses eventually might come to care about how you feel.

Low on hope about finding, holding, or moving on to better work?  Getting that back is the first step. Then you and I, as your career coach, move on to diagnosing what's in the way, trying out the solutions and creating the communications you need. Free consultation. No pressure. After that, fees custom-made for your budget. Please contact for an appointment Jane Genova (text/phone 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com).