I have several employments behind me. Each equipped me with experience, bigger and smaller insights, sometimes sleepless nights. Despite the character of lessons, each taught me a lot about money, business and other matters. Money can show you the ugly side of life but you can really learn from it.

I have very random thoughts about what I learned from my bosses. Feel free to share yours in the comments.

Invest in yourself above all else.

That’s why many bosses are an ass. All the money they make from holding various senior leadership roles are invested in fancy gadgets and real estate.

Many have the self-awareness of a 5-year-old. Their communication style can be matched with 3 years old. Their knowledge is pretty low. And the money they make is some sort of therapy helping them deal with trauma and other issues.

They don’t invest in self-development. They often believe they are the kings.

You can be rich in one area of your life and poor in others.

What I saw is that the biggest jerks get the most. They step over dead bodies, are pain in the ass and get what they want. Not like those nice hardworkers who creates biggest results. In the same time those bosses are poor in other areas of their life. They had to neglect them in order to get the money.

The high-net-worth individual title isn’t impressive anymore.

Your financial status is nobody’s business.

Shouting from the rooftops how much money you have can only get you robbed.

It’s not how much money you have. It’s what you do with it. If you do meaningful stuff with this money – people will remember.

Titles are for the factory worker industrial age. Now it’s all about how your work contributes to the evolution of society.

The meaning of your work outweighs the money it places in your bank account.

Stay away from manipulation.

I heard that if you hire people you should choose those easy to manipulate, best if they have a mortgage and no assertive at all. Why? They won’t ask stupid questions, they will always do what you say. Human slavery of our times – in short. Not the best thing to do nowadays.

Some people just don’t understand that times has changed.

Job title doesn’t change your salary.

Sad but true. You can change your job title on LinkedIn as many times as you want, to whatever you want. But whatever you write it won’t doesn’t equal the amount on your paycheck. Any change to the name of your position is good just for the look of your CV.

If you buy books then actually read them.

I had bosses who was sharing book titles on social media or keep them on the desk in the office. It supposed to make them look smart.

Some did read one or two books and played the God – it is also not the best move.

Reading books pays off. But only if you make the notes and implement the insights.

Don’t think someone is stupid.

Many bosses are so self-absorbed that they don’t see how clever the team is. They look from high position believing that:

1. the team don’t need to know about certain things,
2. the team is stupid – they will never know.

Most of the times they know much more than the boss can imagine. Often the team has solutions the boss needs but because of his behaviour they prefer to keep it for themselves. And… I saw that many times employees are more engaged in the projects and overall business growth than the boss is.

That’s all I can think of today. What’s your thoughts?