Dolly Parton Reveals Her Secret to Being A Good Boss
Dolly Parton is a country music icon and the creator of a vast empire. She has employed countless people through her various ventures, and fans may wonder what the singer is like as a boss. Parton recently opened up about being a boss and what she thinks makes her a good employer.
Dolly Parton has built an impressive empire
Dolly Parton is a singer, songwriter, actor, author, philanthropist, and entrepreneur who has been in the music industry for over 50 years. According to Celebrity Net Worth, she has an estimated net worth of $650 million.
Over her long music career, Parton has sold more than 100 million albums and has had 41 top-10 country albums and 25 number one singles. She created the Dollywood amusement park, which has about 3 million guests each year, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The “9 to 5” singer has also raised and donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various charities.
Dolly Parton said she tries to “rule with love and compassion”
With so many businesses and sources of income, Parton has many employees. In a December 2021 interview with People, Parton opened up about being in charge.
“I’m a good boss, I think,” Parton shared. “I try to rule with love and compassion. But also, there’s a fine line that says, ‘She’s not a pushover.’” Parton also revealed that it’s important for her employees to genuinely like her. “I’m a fair and honest person. I like to be as friendly as I can and love the people that work with me and I like to have them love me.”
The “Jolene” singer said she doesn’t want to be intimidating, and she hopes her employees feel comfortable approaching her. “I know that we’re using each other and that when it’s time for them to go on, they can. But I want to be the kind of person, if they need to come talk to me, they can almost like as a friend and then we’ll get to the business. I don’t want anybody to be afraid to come to me.”
But it’s not always easy to be a boss, and Parton laughed about some of her more challenging experiences. “Some people I have to kick their a** up one side and down the other because some people will just not listen. And then you do have your creative vampires. You do have your energy vampires and you’ve got some people that are just going to eat you up alive.”
The country music legend has said she likes to ‘live an example’ before
When it comes to being a leader, Parton has spoken about her desire to “live an example” for others, including her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus.
When asked in a November 2019 interview with People about giving Cyrus advice, Parton replied, “Miley’s smart; Miley knows what she’s doing. I know we think she doesn’t, and she might not every minute, but I still know that she’s got good stuff in her.”
She also said instead of telling other people what to do, she prefers to lead by example. “I’ve told her some things that I think are valuable and that she uses, but I’d rather live an example,” Parton shared. “[I’d rather] be an example rather than just try to tell somebody to do this, do that because I don’t think that’s right. Everybody’s different. You’ve got your own journey. And some people are going to help you along the way and they can kick a few rocks out of the road for you, but you got to walk it.”
