NO ONE may question your wisdom. Your decisions are final. You are in charge.

I remember restocking shelves at a grocery store as a youth. I had very little authority over anything, and it was dreadful. I had to take orders from idiots that were only able to give them due to their “authority”  in the grocery store chain of command. During my shifts, I studied inventory levels and came up with an ingenious idea. We should stop carrying any perishables items. They were always going bad and we were losing money on this lost inventory. I literally threw away several bananas each day. I presented this idea to management and they completely disregarded my wisdom.

That is why I just couldn’t wait to get into management, honestly. I wanted my wisdom and ideas to have significant mass in the company. I wanted to have the final say, and not waste time on the petty thoughts of those beneath me. I was tired of having my valuable pearls cast aside just because I was not in charge yet.

Now that I am a manager, no one can go over my head. Still, though, my employees think they know more than I do on the odd topic! I’ve been doing this for a long time, but a guy in his late twenties just suggested that we start using “social media” to advertise. What a twerp! “Social media” isn’t even a real thing! I definitely will not be wasting the company’s resources on anything with “social” in the title. Anyhow, I am still in charge, I make the decisions, and I promptly reminded him so!

And likewise, if others question my decisions, especially those beneath me, I lose all of my patience. I am the only one wise enough to run the company. Others don’t have my goals, my drive, or expertise. I have earned my way to the top and should not be questioned. 

Several other leaders — my peers, mind you — have occasionally given me what they call “advice,” but what I call unwelcome criticism). Unfortunately, though, they just don’t see things as well as I do. They are at a disadvantage because they do not sit in my chair. (No one is allowed to sit in my chair, for that matter). I must thus disregard their counsel, since my pearls of wisdom are clearly wasted before these swine.