New Boss, New Start

When you get a new boss, prepare for anything to happen.

Why?

I found that:

• it’s hard to fire someone you know well
• it’s easy to fire someone you don’t know

When you know your boss well, there’s a good chance your boss will know you well. They have a good mental model of you, your strengths and weaknesses.

When you don’t know your boss, they won’t know you at all. They will have to develop a mental model of you.

A new boss is also a great chance to break out of the mold of your old self. A clean slate with a new boss can be refreshing. You can be the person you want to be, not fight against the model your old boss has of you.

With a new boss, you will have a new start.

You get to prove yourself to the new boss, just like you did when you joined or when the old boss promoted you.

There’s a lot to prove.

Similarly, when looking for a new job, you have to prove yourself. Prove to the recruiter, hiring manager, teams, etc.

Either way, you will be proving yourself.

Question is: what do you want a new start of?

From my experience, I would say, prepare to move on. Job stability continues to decrease over time. The era of lifetime employment (at least in American companies) is a fairy tale. Employees know this too.

As a manager, firing someone always suck - it definitely sucks less when you don’t know much about that person.

😐