The Boss of the Year Award What it stands for...


® The Boss of the Year® is an


award dedicated to seeking out the leaders of the South African workplace.


I


t identifies the many unsung heroes and heroines who use their positions of power to empower others in achieving


career success.


It recognises excellence in people leadership. It rewards the very people who know the importance of rewarding others for a job well done. It creates mentors for sound leadership.


Above all, it pays tribute to those who understand that the success of their staff is in direct proportion to their own success as leaders.


Launched in 1990 this Award, pioneered a leadership “conscience” and “ conscientiousness” at a time when in South Africa (and not only), leadership was


We believe that the Award was a precursor to the concept of “human” capital – and that handling this capital correctly was a prime concern. Twenty one years ago, this was pretty radical thinking, but we were to find South Africans in leadership positions with the correct attitudes and attributes.


The job to be done by the Award, was to draw them out – show them off – and start a concerted process of building a culture of hero-finding throughout organisations, with the spin-off of creating more of the kind!


It is neither saints nor goodie-goodies BOTY was looking for – but real men and


Why it was founded...


It’s common knowledge that leadership determines winning nations and winning businesses, and that it stimulates growth and prosperity for all.


F


rom the outset the aim of the Award was to achieve 4 key objectives


1. Introduce the concept of


leader beyond the spheres of politics and sport


2. Discover the criteria for what REALLY makes a good boss by asking the workers and not the theorists


3. Promote good leadership practices by identifying and rewarding those incumbents who exemplified and


embodied the necessary attributes and skills


4. Fast track leadership consciousness among workplace leaders


If on one level the Boss of the Year® Award


is about leadership in the workplace, on another it is essentially about looking for many unsung heroes and heroines found in organizations everywhere. By providing opportunities for them to become known and rewarded it is creating a new kind of hero and role model.


Its stated vision To make the Boss of the Year®


Award


become recognized as the most prestigious award in the workplace by identifying exceptional bosses and establishing them as role models for the South African community.


The mission An Award that…


• Is dedicated to the search of leaders in the workplace.


• Identifies the many unsung heroes and heroines who use their positions of power to empower others to have career success.


• Recognizes leadership.


excellence in people


• Rewards those very people who know how to reward others for a job well done.


• Creates mentors and role models for sound leadership, and


• Is prestigious enough to be celebrated on a National Day – National Bosses Day.


synonymous with the head of government or of the national sports teams!


Back then, who would deem the head of a company to be a “hero” figure and role- model? Only if he (or she) was a business leader making huge profits. And the Rands and Cents leadership was not what workplace leadership was about.


women, who tried harder to make sense for others, make work more meaningful, make workplaces safer, and open-up opportunities for as many as possible.


By providing opportunities for them to become known and rewarded, the Boss of the Year®


createsd a community of


workplace leadership heroes and role models.


We have watched some values remain constant and some new ones emerge; we have watched hierarchies flatten and the mergers and acquisitions create interesting leadership challenges; this Award has also been an interesting observer and participant in the transition of the old to the new South Africa and the emergence of a new workplace ethos … and all the way, in every way the Award has relentlessly sought and identified those men and women who steadfastly kept their colleagues and their employees motivated, inspired and geared for success.


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