Insight #366:
One benefit of being a boss is that you get to give orders. You don’t suggest politely; you tell bluntly. You don’t ask sweetly; you simply expect. Best of all, you don’t hang around to see if others will meet your demands. You assume no-one would dare to disobey.
Which is why managers often act like a boss and why even leaders, servant or not, slip into boss mode now and then. Because it’s nice to play the boss role. And yet, few business bosses boss the way gangster bosses boss. At least, not in my experience.
I wish more business bosses would boss the gangster way. It would make execution… no, let me rephrase that. Gangster-boss style makes it easy for us to understand what the boss expects of us, what we need to do next, and even how we should behave.
Actually, it’s not so much a gangster-boss style as it is a single word they like to use. Capiche.
Gangster bosses say, “Capiche?” They say it often, and they say it with intent. Sometimes they even say it threateningly.
Hang on. Before you get the wrong impression of me. I have no direct experience of gangsters and gangsters saying capiche. But I have watched a few gangster movies. And we all know what we see on TV is real.
You don’t understand what capiche means? But that’s what it means! It means, “Do you understand?” Some people amplify by asking, “Do you understand? Capiche?” And some people try for sarcasm by sneering capeesh instead of capiche.
Whether you say capiche or capeesh, the word is often used to sound threatening in an Italian way. (Do I capiche? Not really. I have no idea what threatening in an Italian way means.)
But why should more business bosses, whether leaders or managers, boss like a gangster boss? Because too many leaders and managers think it unnecessary to check whether colleagues and subordinates understand what they have said, asked, or instructed.
Surely, you’ve experienced leaders and managers who think aloud and assume others know what they mean. They express a wish and assume people know what they want. They issue instructions and assume people will deliver as expected.
Here’s the mistake they make. They assume that assuming creates desired outcomes.
And yet, acting the gangster boss is such a simple thing to do. Simply follow-up every instruction, wish, or request with “Do you understand?” You can even use degrees of intonation, from a quizzical “Do you understand?” all the way to a firm “Do you understand me?”
If the situation requires more firmness than your usual bossy delivery, then you can opt for the more compelling “Capiche?” But please use this only if you have enough gangster-boss style to make it threateningly convincing.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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Quote of the Moment:
“Never assume that assuming will create desired outcomes. Capiche?” The Chief Nonsense Officer.
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