4 Types of Bosses (And How to Talk to Each One)

In this instructional video, career mindset coach Natalie Fisher explains why many workplace communication breakdowns stem from mismatched communication styles between employees and their managers. She opens with a personal anecdote about a boss who demanded a complex, unrealistic backpack‑selection project for a large event, illustrating how the boss’s lack of awareness of execution difficulty signaled a distinct managerial style. From this story she derives four boss archetypes: 1. Results Driver – laser‑focused on ROI, numbers, and speed, often cutting conversations short and dismissing ideas that don’t show immediate financial impact. 2. Rallier – enthusiastic, trend‑driven, and constantly shifting priorities after conferences or new ideas, expecting the team to self‑direct and share the excitement. 3. Rescuer – people‑oriented, avoids conflict, seeks consensus, and delays decisions to keep everyone comfortable, which can lead to vague feedback and slow action. 4. Researcher – data‑driven, risk‑averse, demands extensive documentation, case studies, and multiple scenarios before any decision, resulting in lengthy approval processes. For each type she outlines typical characteristics, common frustrations employees feel, and why recognizing the boss’s “language” matters. She emphasizes that adapting one’s communication style—not changing personal identity—is key to smoother interactions and career advancement. The video concludes with a call to identify one’s boss type, invites viewers to comment on their experiences, and promises a follow‑up video that will provide concrete scripts and adaptation strategies for each boss archetype.
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In this video, I'm going to talk to you about the four different types of bosses and how to communicate with each one. So stay tuned. Hey, it's me. I'm still here. It's Natalie Fisher. I'm a career mindset coach, and if we haven't met before, I help people get into their six-figure jobs and then thrive once they get in and make it a way of life and. Something that they enjoy and can make good money at. And instead of being stressed and feeling imposter syndrome and burning themselves out. So today in this video, I'm going to talk to you about the 4 different types of bosses. And the way that I came up with this was that I have had a lot of different types of bosses in my career, and I've realized that some of them can be difficult to talk to. So tell me if you can relate. If you've ever walked away from a conversation with your boss feeling like you felt misunderstood, felt like there They didn't get you, felt like there was a disconnect there. This isn't about them being difficult. It's about how— well, I mean, sometimes I can't speak for every situation. Sometimes people can be jerks, but most of the time it is because you are speaking a different language to them. They understand information in a certain way and you tend to communicate it in a different way. And so there's nothing wrong with that. And when you can actually identify their language, talking to them is going to be so much easier. So first, I want to share a story about how one of my bosses asked me to create— like, we were planning this event and there were like 500 people coming to this event, and he wanted— he had this grand vision. Tell me if you've ever had a boss that wants you to do something totally ridiculous and they don't really have any idea like what it's going to take to actually get that done, but they just want you to take care of it. This was that situation. So he asked me to take everybody who was coming to this event, like 500 people, and get them to choose individual backpacks from this company called Herschel. And he wanted them to be able to choose whatever they wanted on the website, whatever size, whatever color. And on top of that, he wanted me to get those backpacks shipped to me first and then engraved with a company logo and then Got to the people's hotel rooms at the event, delivered to the people's hotel rooms at the event. And first, when he presented the idea, immediately I said, I thought to myself, "You're not serious, right? You don't actually want that. Like you're joking. We'll get four four four choices, and people can choose between those four choices, and we'll just do it that way, right?" And he was like, "No, I actually think it would be really cool if everyone could choose their own backpack." And so. In this moment, I started thinking to myself, okay, like how could I do that? Like, is that really possible? So instead of shooting down the idea and arguing with him and telling him it was ridiculous, I started to think, okay, could we really do this? Right? And so this is kind of the video was sparked and the whole idea was sparked between noticing what kind of a person he was. And the revelation was it wasn't, it wasn't personal that he wanted to give me a super hard task or whatever. He wanted to do something because of the kind of boss he was. He thought this would be so cool if everyone could pick from all these backpacks and all in the, on the site, there was a ton of choices. Like there might've been 100 choices. Like there were flower ones, like, like all different shades of blue pattern, like all these different kinds. And it was cool to be able to think, oh, I could choose anything from this site. But anyways, The weird part is, is that I actually got it done, but this wasn't the part of— this wasn't the initiation of me realizing this. But what ended up happening was I discovered, okay, this is how he works. He actually has no idea how difficult this is gonna be. He doesn't actually— he doesn't have to do it himself. So he's just— my initial reaction was just, he just wants to like throw this task to me, but he has no idea how long this is gonna take. And with everything else I have to do for the event, like, I don't think I can do this. Right. And so this is where I learned the different kinds of bosses. So I'll tell you which kind he was, but let me see if you can guess first. So the first type is called the results driver boss, and here are their characteristics. So pay attention closely and let me know if you had a— you've ever had a boss, or maybe you have a boss now that has these kind of characteristics. He or she might cut the meeting short when it drags on and it's not about clear outcomes. They might open emails that say, "What's the ROI on this?" They might make snap decisions and expect immediate implementation, and they want it implemented like yesterday. They respond to presentations, and they want the numbers like they're very numbers-oriented, and they really don't like small talk, and they just want to skip skip it and just talk straight business. And this could be frustrating because they could interrupt people before you can be done explaining. Your reasoning. They can feel— they can make you feel rushed and unheard in a conversation. They might dismiss your ideas without understanding the full picture. And everything has to do with a dollar. Like, they want to know how this comes down to the money. So that's the results driver boss. And that kind of person to work with, if you don't understand them and know how to speak their language, it can be really frustrating. So here's some strategies to adapt. One, you actually, let's just move on to the next ones because this video is going to get really, really long. So number 2, I'll do another video with like how to adapt to each of the strategies for each boss. That's what I'll do. The second kind of boss, the rallier boss. See if you can see if any of these characteristics are familiar. One, they use the words revolutionary, transformational, Breakthrough, cool. They get excited about industry trends, like new things that are happening. They change direction based on inspiring new ideas they've heard. They might come back from a conference with like all these new ideas and they like want you to implement them. They talk about company culture and team energy regularly. They want to know how initiatives are going to move the needle on big goals. Things that can be frustrating about this type of boss. They commit to too many exciting projects at once. They might give you a task that is very big and they don't have any connection as to how much time that's actually going to take you. Priorities shift whenever they attend a conference. It's hard to get concrete guidance steps from them. They're probably not the kind of person who is going to provide that to you. They're going to expect you to go get that yourself. And they assume everybody shares their enthusiasm. And that they should, right? Number 3, the rescuer boss. So in case you didn't catch on, the rallier, that was the one in my story. So the rescuer boss, characteristics that you can identify from a rescuer boss. They will ask, how is everyone feeling about this change in meetings? They postpone difficult decisions to gather more input. They frequently check in on work life and stress levels. They avoid conflict and try to make everybody happy. They take time to consider how decisions might affect other members of the team. So this sounds great, but with every boss and each of their characteristics comes common frustration points. So some people might get frustrated about this type of boss because Their decisions can take a really long time, and they— because they want everybody to agree. Or they won't have enough tough conversations if you're— say somebody's not doing well or something, or they don't— they just want to avoid the confrontation at all costs. So they won't have that difficult conversation upfront. They might tend to avoid it. Or you get a lot of vague feedback from them that doesn't actually help you improve what you're doing. They avoid advocating upward for the team needs because again, they resist those difficult conversations. So let's talk about the last one. Number 4, they are the researcher boss. They ask for detailed documentation before every decision. They want to see precedents, case studies for anything new. They want to know that it was proven already to work. They request multiple scenarios and backup plans. So they're very against any risk. They take time to analyze all people, all risks, and all outcomes. Like, that's just how their brain is working. This is the researcher, and they prefer proven methods over experimental approaches. So this can be frustrating because they want endless data before making a decision, or new ideas get shot down for being too risky, or they— you feel like they might be micromanaging you on every little detail. Or simple changes require a whole business case or like three levels of approval to get through. Okay, and so these are the these are the four different types. So if you like this video and you can resonate with that, the first step is identifying them. Okay, it's identifying who they are and what type of personality they have because if you don't do that, then you could end up just trying to talk to them in. In the wrong way and they, the person, your personalities will clash, right? But say if you know you're talking to a results driver boss, you'll be able to adapt your communication style to present them what they need. And this isn't about changing who you are or changing your personality. It's just about changing the way that you communicate your message. And maybe that might be like, it might be something new to you, right? You might not be used to talking in that way. And neither is right or wrong. Like each of them have their great strengths. And I'm sure that you probably get along Well, we'll probably get along better with one, some types than others, but you can actually get along with all of them equally well if you learn to adjust your communication style to each of their personalities. So if I'd love it, if you'd let me know in the comments which kind of boss you have or you've had before, which stands out. And in the next video, so this video doesn't go on forever, I'm going to give you some strategies as to how to adapt your communication style with some examples. of scripts you can use for each type of boss. Okay, so we'll get started in learning about how to communicate with each type of boss, some sentences to use, some starting points to use. And I'd love for you to just go try that out and see if it makes a difference. If you're having some issues with your boss right now, or you're having any friction, see if adjusting this communication style can actually really change the way that they respond to you and the way that they respect you. If you like this video, that's what I got for you for this one, but see me in the next one. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up. If you didn't like it, give me a thumbs down. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. On this channel, I talk about job hunting, I talk about career, I talk about earning, I talk about valuing yourself, and I talk about strategies and ways to get ahead in your current workplace so that you can get what you need from the people that are— that you report to without having to suffer and pull teeth and have a horrible, miserable time. There are strategies that I have used that I have been able to navigate my way through corporate, and I doubled my salary within Under five years using these strategies, and so now I'm here sharing with sharing them with you on this channel. I'm so glad you're here. Grateful for your subscription. Any engagement you want to give me helps, and I will see you in the next video. Bye bye.
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