Not to mention the fact that she offered to pull rank as a means of getting our mutual goal met, rather than just jumping in without asking or as a way to inflate her own ego. Woo!

I have a great boss also. He's overworked, but he is THERE and is getting, more and more, into not sweating the small stuff.

I have a great boss also. She has confidence that we will forward her agenda without the need for her to constantly check up on us and total trust that we will do our job properly. This is the first time I have had this in a boss, so it is something of a novelty. As with danf, she she doesn't sweat the small stuff and doesn't mind how we get the job done as long as it is done right. I think she's on the way up the ladder, though, so shudder to think who will be next in line.

Occhiblu: I am so envious. I've had micro-managers and absent-managers and everything in between. I've never had one that actually did a good job, let along a great job. That yours did that is just so damn cool.

I know! I'm so used to horrible bosses that it's so neat to have a good one!

I've had micro-managers and absent-managers

Ah, but have you had both characteristics in the same boss? I have. The only thing positive about having a micro-manager who isn't around much is that he's easier to BS.

The older I get, the more awesome women seem when they do that leadership/management thing well. Such respect.

The last job that I worked at, was a mom and pop sort of an operation--this couple, in their mid-forties I'm assuming, had started a call centre on the top floor of their apartment building, and hired a bunch of us to make calls to New Zealand for selling real estate. I didn't like the husband much (he wasn't a bad guy or anything, but I thought he was a bit condescending sometimes), although the wife was perfect. I don't mean that she was a pushover or anything, but like occhi's boss, she was just so composed that you never felt threatened around her. And boy, did she have a way with words--even when she was telling you something that was negative, she'd make it sound like it wasn't that big a deal, and that we'd totally get out of it. She just had that confidence in her that made us all like her so much.