Suggestions for dealing with an old-school boss

I'm old, but I do know how to use email and productivity tools and Teams and so on. We have had a re-shuffle of the executives and my new boss is decidedly old-school. He wants everything to be face-to-face, printed out, and off the cuff. This is a problem for me because I am 75% remote, 100% paperless, and do everything according to a plan. He is also of the mind that no facet of marketing is effective, talking to people you already know is the only way to grow sales. Sigh. 

Not wanting to start over yet again, what are your tips for dealing with a dinosaur? 

Reminds me of this old UAL commercial- 

Hit the road?  That's what we do.  
 

Instead of adopting a superior air, see what you can learn from him.  Much of what people truly hate about large corporations is the proliferation of information technology at the expense of the personal element. 

And Marketing as a "science" or field of study is indeed complete rubbish.

You might possible learn something from him, if you handle the situation you will definitely outlast him. His move so late in his career is telling, how long do you think it will be until his retirement?

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

He wants everything to be face-to-face, printed out, and off the cuff. This is a problem for me because I am 75% remote, 100% paperless, and do everything according to a plan.

You'll have to talk to him to resolve what to do when you're working remote - unless you put hard copies in the mail it's going to be impossible to deliver printouts face to face.

I don't know the conversations you've had already, but can you ask him what his expectations are in terms of communication? 

can you be honest that you're looking for the best way to take what you're used to doing and make something similar work well for both of you?

Not relevant, but I keep reading this as an "old school-bus"

For better or worse, during my career of managing peoples and being managed by peoples, there are only to types.

Type 1 wants to tell you what he wants done, his way, and your job is to listen, understand  what he wants and enable him.

Type 2 listens to your plan, figures out what it will take to enable you, and lets you go to town with you thinking that this is all on you win-lose or draw.

Unspoken in both cases is the fact that your real job is to make your boss look good in the eyes of his boss.

I am glad that I retired when I did because I do not understand working from home. I needed the "uniform" and the office environment where at a glance I could see what my people were doing. ( This was an R&D department). 

The world changed during covid and I managed to work with a lot of my staff on the end of a internet connection. I did not like it but productivity was as good or better so I was not going to fight it. Key to my discomfort was having to adopt yet another management software tool to gauge employee productivity from home. I hate most forms of management software since it tends to be more features than benefits.  So I retired as soon as possible. Your boss might be in the same boat.

Not very related, but my long-time former boss retired last year. He was very much "old school" and used to make me print and file things that we'd corporately stopped printing and filing. I never cared, wasn't my ink, so I have no advice there... But, I saw him last weekend at company Christmas party and asked how he liked retirement: 

"Don't miss the job, don't miss you." And then he smiled, and moved on. So, I got that going for me. 

A fifth of rotgut and a carton of lucky strike non filtered should get him seeing things your way. Or not that old school?

Buy a FAX machine.

I wonder just how old this guy is.  I retired a few years ago, and while I preferred face to face and still kept a lot of hard copy records for my own use, I (and everyone my age I worked with) had adapted to modern technology and techniques.  

I'm picturing Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet in Metropolis.  

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm old, but I do know how to use email and productivity tools and Teams and so on. We have had a re-shuffle of the executives and my new boss is decidedly old-school. He wants everything to be face-to-face, printed out, and off the cuff. This is a problem for me because I am 75% remote, 100% paperless, and do everything according to a plan. He is also of the mind that no facet of marketing is effective, talking to people you already know is the only way to grow sales. Sigh. 

Not wanting to start over yet again, what are your tips for dealing with a dinosaur? 

Now I feel old.  I hate all the "paperless" crap flooding my inbox. I don't read it. It is a waste of of my time and is detrimental to productivity.  
 

Repeat customers don't want an email they want to see your face and sit down and discuss what and how you can do better. A faceless emotionless paperless sales call means you don't care enough to interact with me.  My general assumption is all this and the people that do this work will be replaced by AI and as such be completely ignored as cyber marketing junk mail in the near future.  

pistols at dawn?

llysgennad said:

Not relevant, but I keep reading this as an "old school-bus"

Heh. This is what I read...

No Mustangs here? :)

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

No Mustangs here? :)

That tire/wheel combo is just right for that car! Just excellent

You are probably going to need to hit a happy medium. Give him enough of what he wants to make him happy. Keep doing enough of what you want to keep you happy. 

The art of compromise can be a PITA. That's probably why it's an art instead of a science. 

Good luck. 

Toyman! said:

 

The art of compromise can be a PITA. That's probably why it's an art instead of a science. 

Nowadays, I'm tempted to call it a lost art. 

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

I'll be the first to admit I'm not very good at it at times. 

I wish I could help. I'm not great with dinosaurs. I tend to irk them.

He grew up here.......grueling week of phone calls.....

In reply to GameboyRMH :

I'm pretty sure he said similar back when the company hired it's first IT guy.

You need to see the old school boss's side ......

Is he just trying to hold on until he retires and does not want to change things that might go to Shtt and he gets blamed  ?

Also if he is not the owner , what does the owner expect ?   Is he even older and does not want to rock the boat ?  

Lots of questions to get the other sides concerns .....