Leader and Boss

Now it is fashionable to conduct all kinds of training and training on how to be a boss and lead subordinates. Here’s the story that happened before my eyes, about where the difference is between a leader and a boss.

At the beginning of the 2000s, our enterprise, like many others, was in a deplorable condition, the Soviet lines still stood, engineers fled, the premises were rented, but there was an investor who was interested in bankruptcy and invested a certain amount of funds in restoration and modernization. By 2010, the workshop worked again, but there was a problem of backwardness of sovdepovsky equipment, not able to produce the product in accordance with the requirements of the standards. Then, with one piece of pen, new German miracle stations were ordered and installed, with hardware-modular control, where the main server was an ordinary computer. At the same time, the line consisted of several different devices, each of which did its specific work. The CPU (central control post) with the operator had the ability to move along a strictly defined line - rail, between the hardware units, so that the operator could see the correctness of the process through the glass.
Everything would be fine, but who to teach them to manage? The head of the workshop is a young man, the computer is afraid like fire. The chief engineer decided to attract young engineers. We selected a couple of young engineers who recently graduated from the political science in the regional center and who came to us by distribution and know a few words in English, sent them to Germany to learn, but whether they taught badly or did not study, but they came not very prepared. At least, no one could go through the simulation from and to without stopping the program for some reason or operator error. A big bird from the leadership arrives from Moscow, flying straight from Guyana, where he has just signed another million contract. It comes to clarify the question why we installed the equipment six months ago, the Germans and we signed the tax receipt papers, and the train is still there.
The leadership in panic, from the chief engineer for the first time smelled not vodka, but validol, in his own way, with difficulty combining cultural words with his usual speech, sets the task of the young engineer Marin to urgently prepare for passing the simulation (that is, to pass the entire process from beginning to end, on the hardware computer, monitoring the simulation parameters).
On the day X, such a man for 50, in a strict costume and a stylish shirt, at a price probably more than the total cost of all the clothes present, apologized for the delay (the plane from Guyana was delayed) and asked to immediately move on to the case, who abandoned the traditional table, which shocked all our management, who had the idea of joining it before the check.
Marina received another portion of blasphemy and curse from the immediate boss, launched the program. But the young girl was upset, and could not pass the key sections without alarms and stops. It was visible how she was anxious, trembling in her hands, biting her lips, tears in her eyes, about to collapse. Natecha found nothing smarter than threatening to dismiss her to the devil’s mother, unless she stopped doing hernias and passed the simulation without mistakes. He spotted and went out to smoke. He was followed by the chief engineer, who could nevertheless help, as he was not especially interested in what was going on, hoping to retire before he was fired. The man looked at the whole thing and said gently, calmly, but somehow very confidently:
Don’t worry, Marina, it’s all right. Do you have children?
Marina raised her tearful eyes, hid her shaking hands behind her back and said:
Two of them are twins. Son and daughter.
Great, so you have to cook well. Tell me, do your kids love cakes?
Marina, who doesn’t understand what’s going on, said yes, they adore it, they also demand it to be hotter.
- And how do you make them, roast in a pot or roast in a bowl? I asked Moscow.
- Well, I dough first, and then I just roast for the crust.
The man smiled and continued:
And what do you do so that the farce is not liquid?
Marina felt that the conversation was on a familiar topic, came to herself a little and talked:
- If the broth is liquid, then I add bread, but exactly as much as I need and put it in the refrigerator so that the bread absorbs the excess water, then shape and cook.
The man continued:
Well, look, you have already answered yourself the question why after plasma cutting the sheet does not move on to the molding. It needs to be released so that at the next stage with flexibility it does not go through cracks in the cutting places or so that the steel does not crack during subsequent welding. The program tells the alarm that the sheet should lie down with a gradual drop in temperature, and you are trying to let it go ahead of time. Don’t rush, imagine you’re cooking cakes for your kids who will refuse to eat them if they don’t get as usual.
Marina suddenly transformed, raised the wet eyes on the man, a smile with cute bushes appeared on the face, the hands stopped trembling. She said clearly and clearly:
Thank you very much. I understand it all, thank you very much for it.
She returned to the controller, overloaded the program and passed the entire 40-minute simulation from the first time and received a given shape at the output of excellent quality. Those who came in and out did not even understand what was happening.

But the man could fail, dismiss everyone, and so on. He was the leader, not the boss.