Marketing professionals often gather to chat about everything under the sun, but the most frequent topic is their performance at work—boasting about how well they are doing, how they outwit their bosses, and how they manipulate competitors. When the conversation gets lively, they gesture wildly, full of bravado, with saliva and spittle flying—it's quite a spectacle. Gradually, I've realized that the so-called "experience" we share seems to offer little benefit to personal growth and future development. After careful thought, I've drawn some conclusions to discuss with you:
In my view, the so-called "experience" of professionals is actually trapped in an unnoticed pitfall: the employee mindset!
What does that mean? It can be explained in one sentence:
All your experience is premised on one thing: you are an employee! When you become a boss, you'll find that your current experience is worthless!
Isn't that scary? Indeed, it is. People in marketing all dream of starting their own business, but while harboring entrepreneurial dreams, they improve their skills and experience under the premise of being an employee—isn't that somewhat contradictory?
So, what are the differences between the employee mindset and the boss mindset? Let me briefly touch on a few points.
- Speed vs. Efficiency When a leader assigns a task, say, selecting a location for a specialty store, do you consider getting it done as quickly as possible, at all costs? Even if the price is higher, you want to secure it quickly; even if it requires more manpower, you want it done fast; even if the location is less ideal, you still want to complete it quickly. Why? Because speed earns the leader's appreciation, and others will think you are capable.
See? Isn't that the employee mindset? The logical premise is: I need to choose a location quickly to gain the leader's approval!
For the same task, the boss mindset would focus on price and location, as these relate to future profitability. A fast selection with a high price or poor location is definitely not advisable. Under the premise of ensuring profitability, you should increase speed as much as possible—that's the boss mindset.
- Abstract vs. Concrete When you reach middle or senior management, many friends start to become abstract—meaning they gradually detach from specific work and engage more in conceptual thinking, resource allocation, and personnel coordination. From a positional standpoint, since specific tasks are handled by others, as a leader, you should indeed focus on abstract work and direction research. But have you ever experienced being unable to answer a few very specific questions from your boss?
You might think: "I'm at this level, and the boss is asking me such trivial questions? He should ask my subordinates. What's wrong with him?"
There's nothing wrong with the boss. This is the difference between the employee and boss mindsets. Under the boss mindset, there is no distinction between abstract and concrete work. The so-called abstract work is based on concrete work. If you don't understand the actual situation or the most basic data, can your research direction be correct?
- Organizational Support vs. Just Results Do you complain that the company's organizational support is insufficient? When doing something, this doesn't keep up, that doesn't keep up—either not enough money, not enough people, or no suitable people, or not enough vehicles, or other departments don't cooperate.
What do you do in such situations? Some friends directly report to the company, some report while continuing to work, and some just work without reporting. Which approach is better?
Many friends think that reporting while working is better—it shows results and explains difficulties, seemingly ideal. But note, this is precisely where the employee mindset trap lies.
Under the boss mindset, finding ways to get things done within the existing environment is perfectly normal. If all support were in place, would they still need you?
- People You Like vs. People Who Get Things Done Look at your circle: do you find that the people around you are all similar to you? Some people work with you every day, but you rarely speak to them?
Birds of a feather flock together—that's understandable. Why do people group by type? Because we find similar people more agreeable. Even emperors in the past usually passed the throne to a son they found agreeable, often with the comment "deeply resembling me in filial piety," which essentially means "he is like me." If even emperors do this, what's wrong with us doing the same?
Of course, there's nothing wrong, but this is another manifestation of the employee mindset. Although you often chat and have fun together, when you encounter thorny problems, you find no one around who can help solve them.
Under the boss mindset, you should view your interpersonal relationships as three-dimensional and layered. That is, you need to be close to people who can help you, not just stick with those you like. You should have various types of doers to solve all kinds of problems—that's the state your circle should achieve.
- Diligence vs. Efficiency Diligence, seriousness, and hard work are almost the unchanging educational principles of schools for years. Chinese college students at Harvard, Oxford, and other prestigious universities often impress initially with their memory, but soon become ordinary, with few excelling. This is because Chinese students often have only diligence, not thinking.
Every morning, they arrive at the office early, work tirelessly, and stay late into the night. Such employees are recognized as good employees. But have you noticed that when such good employees resign, the boss doesn't even frown, while those who often skip work, arrive late, and are sloppy are retained by the boss when they submit their resignations?
Under the employee mindset, you believe that as long as you are diligent and hardworking, you will be recognized and given opportunities.
Under the boss mindset, the goal is high work efficiency.
- Creativity vs. Trends Take product design as an example: whether to make it bigger or smaller, change shape or nature, are all considerations when designing new products.
Under the employee mindset, the more novel and unexpected, the better. Creativity is everywhere, and you can find data to support your arguments.
Under the boss mindset, market trends are the main research object. If the trend is toward smaller products, make it smaller; if the trend is toward gift packaging, focus on gift boxes.
One is creativity-first, the other is trend-first.
- Performance vs. In-Role Duties When a task is completed smoothly, even exceeding expectations, that's a good thing.
Under the employee mindset, you believe you have achieved performance, so the company should praise you, the leader should show appreciation, at least give a bonus as a reward.
Under the boss mindset, you believe you have only completed your in-role duties, not let down the company's salary—that's all!
The above are just a few immature comparisons, and they may be biased. I hope to communicate more with friends!
The difference between the employee mindset and the boss mindset is just two characters, but in practice, it's a world apart. Don't deliberately pursue or imitate the boss mindset; instead, think seriously and understand the relationship between people and things at a deeper level. Only by understanding these relationships can you truly change your thinking pattern and thereby qualitatively improve your capability structure!
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