My boss’s retirement luncheon was today. We’ve all known he would be leaving for a long time now but the news is really hitting me emotionally today. He has been an amazing boss. The kind that gives you room to be the best employee you can. I wish more managers understood that trying to squeeze every drop of productivity and accountability only stifles passion and kills good ideas before they have a chance to develop.

If you make all of your employees feel important and treat even the lowest level workers as resources for radical solutions and change you can build a better team, department, and company than you could ever imagine.

If you have a boss like the kind I had, the kind that trusts you to do your best work, appreciate them and spread your wings while they will let you. I’m afraid of who will be the next head of our department and worried that I will be reined in and smothered again. Just imagining it exhausts me.