A little girl interrupted a messaging session I was having with the CEO of a large financial services company.
It was his daughter.
She'd just gotten home from school and wanted to say hi.
He muted the Zoom call while she sat on his lap for a few minutes, everyone else on the call smiling as the moment's sweetness crept past us.
She walked off to go do what kids do after a long day in elementary school and the CEO turned his mic back on.
"Sorry," he said. "That was my boss."
Everyone laughed.
But it wasn't a joke. Not really.
Sure, he meant to be funny, but in that moment he communicated who he built his company for; in all seriousness, he does work for her.
The Subtext
So much of what we do with copy and messaging comes down to subtext: what is the underlying point we are trying to communicate through our words.
And this CEO in particular was speaking to people just like him. He wanted to reach busy entrepreneurs and high-level executives who were family oriented, so they could get their financial futures sorted out.
The subtext: "Do it now, because it's their future we're really talking about."
So Who's Your Boss?
After freelancing for six years, I got a job again.
And I have a boss. Again.
I'm lucky since I like her a lot. She's incredibly intelligent and I'm grateful I get to learn from her.
But in the grand scheme of things, who's really my boss? Who am I really working for?
If you have a boss, I hope they're good to you. Even more important if you're self-employed, because we can be harder on ourselves than most bosses can be sometimes.
And honestly, bosses get a bad rap: the good ones will push you to grow and will keep you accountable.
So hopefully you know who your real boss is, too.