Why I think I like Linus as a boss

[YellowJersey]

So I've been watching LTT for a good four or five years now and I've picked up bits and pieces of info about Linus that's formed my impression of him in several capacities. I don't work for Linus, LMG, Floatplane, etc. Today, I want to talk about why, based on what Linus and his employees have said on camera, I think Linus is a good boss.

 

First and foremost, it seems that he gets that his position of power comes with a corresponding obligation to his employees (cue Uncle Ben). What drives me absolutely nuts about virtually all the places I've ever worked is that the people at the top enjoy so much power and money and yet feel no sense of obligation towards the people who actually do the thing that people pay the business to do. Linus doesn't strike me as being like that. I've heard him mention a number of times that he employees people who depend on his business to pay their mortgages and so on. That's a quality I haven't come across very often and I think it's an invaluable asset to LMG. The employer/employee relationship is so often parasitic when it should by symbiotic.

 

Second, carrying on from that, he also seems to get that if the business runs into trouble, it's his responsibility. Even if it's not necessarily his fault, it's still his responsibility. Save for an employee going on a "frolic of one's own," he seems to get that, while he can take a significant degree of credit for LMG's successes, that, likewise, its failures or troubles are also on him. That's what it means to be at the top. Again, great power, great responsibility and so on. Unlike so many other bosses who aim to pin all the blame on some poor sap, he seems to accept that, at least in part, any failures or problems are also on him, at least to a certain extent. I've seen far too many bosses screw up and then throw someone below them under the bus to save their own skins. Linus strikes me as not being that kind of boss.

 Third, he seems to have a good rapport with his employees to the extent that they're as much colleagues as they are employees. He's not detached from the work of his employees and seems to often be in the trenches with them. He seems to listen to their feedback to better enable his employees to do their jobs. It's a delicate balance to strike, as you don't necessarily want to be friends with your employees (I've seen people get played when they do that) nor do you want be aloof and unapproachable. Nor does he seem obsessed with micromanaging them and content to give them a certain degree of autonomy. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a boss is simultaneously uninterested in what I do yet constantly breaths down my neck.

 

 I'm not trying to stroke Linus' ego here and gain points with him (though, Linus, if you are egosurfing, you're welcome ;) ). It's more to illustrate what I think makes a good boss versus a bad one. The nature of my work (often temp office work as an independent contractor) means I've worked for a lot of different businesses, reported to a lot of different people, and I've seen a lot of shit. But as I was catching up on last week's WANshow (or was it the week before that?), Linus said a few things that just got me thinking. So that's why I think Linus, or at least my impression of Linus based mostly on the WANshow, is a good boss and one that I wish I encountered more often.

 

 Anyway, I should probably get back to work now.
 

[homeofmew]

Seems over the years
1. Seems more corporate
2. Channel Super Fun dead (and I love channel super fun)

I enjoy the WAN show a bit more because it isn't scripted.  But that's just me.
There is no argument that he does care about his people because you can tell.
After his "I'm thinking of retiring video" It seems like he's working himself a bit too hard.

Just what I think