Employee
a person employed for wages or salary, especially at non-executive level.
I strongly dislike this word, it is one of the few words that I go out of my way to use (BTW this definition is taken straight from Google). If I am about to type it, I delete it and find another word to use; users, members, team, people, something, anything.
It takes away all other aspects of someone wanting to work with you, as though the only reason they are working with you is because they can monetary compensation. The best part of this definition is the delineation between executive and non-executive? So executives have a different definition for where they are employed and in this sense are not considered to be an employee of a company?
So many things wrong with this word, I try to avoid it any chance I get – when I look around the office at all the people that I have the opportunity to work with – this is the last thought that crosses my mind for their only reason to be here.
Boss
a person in charge of a worker or organization.
I have a problem with this word as well, it reminds me of the old saying “the buck stops here” quote. Really, what we want, what I think everyone wants is a Leader, someone they can look up to on a project and/or team that will give them coaching when they need it and mentoring when they are struggling through a problem. When they are staying late at night to get work done or coming in early in the morning, they want to see their Leader there, willing to help up and get dirty to get the job done. A Leader leads through the trenches and a Boss watches from the sidelines?
Perhaps I’m wrong on both these words, maybe there is a place for them in our Lexicon, I hope not, and I’ll keep trying to expel these words from my vocabulary because they don’t do justice to the people I interact with and work on a daily basis.
Looks more and more like Fridays are now becoming the random thought of the week!
