Technical jargon: What does "unbossed" actually mean?

It's been a while since Vas Narasimhan became the new CEO of Novartis and taught this word to his 110,000 employees. And it's actually much older, because back in 2012, two Danes outlined how companies should actually be organized and gave this idea a name. The book "Unbossed" by Lars Kolind and Jacob Bøtter questions hierarchical organizational structures and propagates collaborative management methods. Literally translated, unbossed means: Not having a boss. Sounds tempting, but unfortunately it is wrong. The correct translation would be: no one is the boss, and more aptly: everyone bears responsibility.

Pandemic spread and misinterpretation

At the moment - thanks to Corona and the home office - the word is spreading quickly and imprecisely even outside Novartis. That is a pity. After all, unbossed is a collaborative method of managing a wide variety of tasks, in which everyone works together with everyone else and contributes their passion and knowledge, regardless of management level and title. The inventors of the word and its biggest multiplier want to put meaningfulness before profit, because that releases energy in employees and motivates them to perform at their best.

Unfortunately, the management structures that bosses have become so fond of are so firmly anchored in our industry in particular that it is difficult to simply throw them overboard. And yet now would be an opportunity to try out a new approach: One that not only produces winners and losers, but also gives companies and employees a sense of purpose beyond profit orientation. This new and different management culture would be the best medicine for today's knowledge-based world and is available without prescription. Instead, those at the top say unbossed is bad and those at the bottom think unbossed means chilling in the home office far away from the bosses. Both are wrong.