[Answer] I Want to Do Things Well, but I Keep Clashing with My Boss — How Can People with Too Many Ideas Survive in the Workplace?

[Answer] I Want to Do Things Well, but I Keep Clashing with My Boss — How Can People with Too Many Ideas Survive in the Workplace?

First, there is one concept that needs to be clear: what does it actually mean to do something well?

This is really the core of disagreements between you and your boss. Is the “good” in your eyes the same as the “good” in your boss’s eyes? If it is, then there would naturally be no disagreement. If it isn’t, then as the person involved, I think the original poster should seriously reflect on this: if, in carrying out a task, you have not achieved the goal required by the person who assigned it, then on what grounds do you believe you have done the job well?

People naturally see things differently depending on their position, so differences in perspective are normal. But stubbornly insisting that you are right and everyone else is wrong definitely suggests there is some shortcoming on your part.

In other words, your boss hired you to get things done, and the goal is of course for you to do them well according to his requirements. So his standard is, in the usual sense, the standard of “good,” not yours.

If a customer in a restaurant pays for a bowl of noodles, but you serve them dumplings instead, then no matter how delicious those dumplings are, can that really be called doing the job well?