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If you’ve recently been brought into a new company as upper management, been promoted within the company you already worked for as the boss, or started your own company, you may just be thinking about how excited you are, how proud of yourself you are, and what a difference you’re going to make in this place. You can’t wait to show your employees what a great boss you are, how much you care about their career paths, and how well you will consider the needs of everyone to make this the greatest possible work environment. And then you may discover one unfortunate and unexpected thing: some of your male employees don’t appreciate having a female boss.
Employees may resent you for many reasons—one being you’re basically their age—but the male ego can be particularly fragile. If a man goes for an opportunity, and another man gets it instead, the first guy might think things like, “Well, he was a worthy adversary,” or “The better man won.” But if a woman beats him out for that same opportunity, he may think, “What the f*&k? Well. I must just suck. That’s the only way a woman would have gotten that.” Or he may think, “She got it because she’s a woman—it’s the diversity play.” Oh, you know men can think like this. You see it and hear it all of the time.
I’m not saying all men are like that, but if even one of your male employees thinks like that, you’re going to have a hell of a time with him. Some men just don’t take well to having a woman tell them what to do. It’s incredibly stupid, and you shouldn’t have to tolerate it. If you do discover you have a bad egg in the batch who resents your gender, you may need to have a serious talk with him…or just let him go. Here are signs your male employee resents having a female boss.
He’s nicer to his male colleagues
Maybe he doesn’t necessarily take a mean tone with you, but he’s clearly cheerier towards his male colleagues than he is towards you. With them, it’s all smiles, it’s, “How’s it going.” He’s pleasant and agreeable. With you, it’s all business. He drops all of the niceties, and just speaks to you like a robot.
