The Freakonomics podcast recently reposted this 2022 episode about bad bosses and the Peter Principle (that people rise to the level of their incompetence). I wouldn’t normally re-listen to a podcast but I remember enjoying this one and noting in particular their investigation of the Peter Principle, and it apparently being true, and companies being aware of it.

I tuned in to a more positive feeling note from listening this time, in that a proven result of ‘good bosses’ is better staff retention. I find it encouraging that there is a way to measure the cost of a bad boss in this way. Yes, they might whip teams into working harder and longer and producing more work, but they will cause folk to leave which results in the cost of recruitment and lost knowledge.

Being a good boss, a nice boss, saves money and retains talent. What a boon for being nice.