This is the Business English Podcast, episode 154.
How many direct reports do you have? Leadership terms in English.
Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.
Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business.
For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Michelle, coming to you from New York City and Colorado, USA.
Still translating in your head when you speak English?
It's time to change that. The Connected Communicator course from All Ears English helps you train your ear, speak naturally, and finally connect with real people.
In our tailored study plan, you'll hear unscripted interviews from tattoo artists to entrepreneurs from all across America. and you'll use new AI tools to practice speaking anytime you want.
No more stiff, scripted English. Build confidence, fluency, and cultural insight all in one course.
Plus, get real-life speaking experience at our Open Conversation Club every single week and build community with Allers English teachers and students.
Go to allersenglish.com slash connection to save $50 this week only.
Offer ends August 10th. allearsenglish.com slash connection.
Hey there, Michelle. What's going on today?
How are you? Hey, Lindsay, I'm good. I'm good.
I'm happy to be here. How are you? Oh, me too.
It's always good to start the day recording because well, it's the best thing we do.
So I like to start my day off on a good note.
For sure. Yes. Yes, me too. Me too. Lindsay, have you had good bosses or good supervisors in your career?
I would say I've had pretty good ones. Yeah.
And none of them have become mentors. Yeah, no complaints.
What about you, Michelle? That's good. Yes, I've had good ones as well.
I'm trying to think. I've also had some not great ones.
I have. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, today we're going to talk about some ways to talk about who makes the decision.
So who's the boss? Okay. Who's the boss?
That's the name of a TV show from the 90s, right?
From the 90s. Yeah, you're right, Michelle.
That was, yeah. Oh my gosh. I think that show must have faded away into the wasteland of canceled TV shows from the 90s.
But I do remember it. I do remember it. Who's the boss?
Tony Danza. Tony Danza. Wow, that's wild.
Okay. But today, not talking about TV, talking about, do we have any other related episodes today that our listeners should check out?
Oh, well, this is a episode 140. A recent one is, are we still on for lunch?
How to cancel a business lunch. So maybe you are going out to lunch with your boss or, you know, there's a lot of reasons why this episode could help you.
Yeah, very practical skills on business English.
So guys, hit the follow button. First, go check out episode 140 and then go and hit the follow button if you are not following business English.
Michelle, how many episodes a week do we launch on this show? three a week i know it's pretty amazing right so our listeners can get really into it you guys can't listen to the episode before you go into work in the morning it will be there for you so hit follow so it can come to you absolutely all right so lindsay what do you think makes a good boss Oh, okay.
Well, this is something I think about all the time, right?
I'm always thinking about how to be a good boss, right?
What does it take to be a good manager or leader?
I think a number of things, helping people develop themselves to understand that a career, like the job for your team is not just about the success of the company.
It's about the success of their careers too.
So having... both things hopefully grow in parallel is something good to keep in mind as a boss.
I think. Yeah, that's good. I mean, and what, what is the hardest part of being a manager?
There's so many things. I think, uh, I think being honest, right?
Like, you know, kind of how much do we make sure that we're clear about with the team?
Like just being transparent as much as possible.
Like, you know, just kind of coming together and sharing as much information as we can so we can be growing together, I guess.
That's not very well articulated. No. No, no, no.
That's good. That's good. So guys, today we're going to talk about some vocabulary that you can use to talk about who is, maybe they're not the boss boss, the boss boss, but maybe it's just someone who has some control of something in the company.
So we're going to talk about some good vocabulary that you can use today.
So, all right, let's get into it. Lindsay, what's the first one?
Okay. Well, this one is so in charge, right?
To be in charge. Is that the first one we want to teach our listeners, Michelle?
Okay. To be in charge, right? Is the person that you go to.
Who makes it? Yeah. It doesn't, this one, it doesn't have to be a boss.
Like maybe you are just someone who leads a project.
So for example, Stacy's in charge of the slides for the presentation.
Yeah. So you take responsibility, but it could also be like, Oh, you know, she's in charge.
Like that's the boss. Yeah. yeah totally so you know in a any company that's larger than one person you usually have project managers you have people you have people that oh we use the term own like i own this project you own that project or that responsibility or that data point and so that would be the person to go to in that case right so that's the person who is in charge to be in charge that's right that's right so what's what's the next one call the shots I like this one, Michelle, because this one actually carries over into our daily lives as well, doesn't it?
For sure. Yes. To call the shots is to make the decisions.
So you could say, Tom calls the shots over here, so it'd be good to introduce yourself to him.
And then at home, there's usually, not always, but usually one person that kind of... moves things along right in a partnership and it sort of makes the final decisions on things i mean obviously most couples are equal hopefully but like there's one person who's moving things along making plans what would you say are you the one that kind of calls the shots at home michelle or is it more equal I really feel it's very equal.
I really do. I don't think that... Yeah, like, there are certain... I would say that for Dan and I, like, there are certain responsibilities that, you know, we might take on more than the other.
Like, I might be more in charge of, like, communicating with my son's school.
He'll be... You know, like, we... There are, like, kind of... chores or things that we you kind of naturally fall into.
But I wouldn't say that any one of us is like the prime decision maker.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about you? Well, I would say it's more one of us and not me.
He's more the person that is always moving things forward.
Like we got to do this. Let's make sure we do this.
Let's plan that vacation. Like let's do that next year.
We want to go camping X number of times.
So the person, you know, making reservations for the campsite.
So that's what I mean. Let's say one person is a little more proactive.
OK, OK, fine. OK, fine. OK, when you put it like that, I would say Dan is more proactive.
It's not exactly all the shots. It's a bad example.
Yeah, but yeah, no, I would say he's that's funny.
No, I'm I'm more the one. Yeah, he does make the reservations.
And so, yes, I understand what you're saying.
And yeah, it's not me either. Yeah. But yeah, Call the Shots is a little different.
This really is more about the decisions.
And, you know, I aspire to be in a relationship where decisions are made together.
Right. Like that's that's a healthy relationship.
But anyway, back to the working world. Back to the working world.
All right. We also have these. These are a couple of fun ones.
So there's Top Dog. Top Dog. I love it. She's Top Dog.
So whatever she says goes. Wow. I love that.
Yeah. And then this one, I don't know why we say this, but the big cheese.
Yeah. And here's Sarah. She's the big cheese.
Yeah, that's obviously these are two more casual kind of funny ones.
Yeah, these are ones I would be more likely, honestly, to see in a movie or hear in a movie rather than to use it.
You know what I mean? I'd just be ready if you hear it.
Maybe I don't know if I would recommend using it depending on like what's your company culture, right?
I would imagine this like, you know, the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
Did you ever see that? I don't know. I didn't see it, but I know.
Just that corporate Wall Street culture, I don't know, reminds me of this expression for some reason.
Yeah, they're just kind of funny ones. I would never use them in a serious way like, oh, she's the big cheese.
It would be just kind of like a joke or a funny thing.
So only if your company culture allows for that. stuff.
So that's a good point, Lindsay. And then you have your typical, I'm just going to shout them out, supervisor, boss, director, manager.
And all of these kind of mean the same thing, right?
Yeah. And I would add one bonus one to that.
This is when we're talking about a more structured company, right?
A bigger, like higher ups, my higher ups.
Higher ups. That's a good one. Yeah. Higher up or higher ups, plural.
Higher ups. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. here's here's a question what do you think people generally call their boss or supervisor good question even in terms of name do they say yeah do they say first name or last name or what I in most company cultures that I hear about like friends talking about their work working world it's a first name basis uh yeah what about you michelle Yeah, I totally agree.
And I mean, yes, I think, especially now, I mean, I feel like I've seen in movies from the 90s or something, you know, people using Mr. Right, like Mr. Mrs. But I feel like now it's more natural.
Like my so my mom was a supervisor at her work.
And one of the people she supervised called her boss all the time.
But like, don't do that. Like that. It's like, Oh, hey, boss.
Like, I feel like that's not really a joking way.
Or was that? So it was, it was very cute.
Like this is a person that she's still friends with, even though she's been retired for many years.
Like, yeah. And my, I was friends with him, like great, great guy.
And, um, it was kind of in an endearing and fun way.
And he still calls her that, um, even though she's not his boss anymore.
So it can come up naturally as a joke, like, Hey boss.
But, um, I have heard, you know, students where they want to just call their boss.
Oh, hi boss. And it's, Very seriously. Yeah, very seriously.
And I don't think I've ever called any supervisor or anything other than their first name.
So you can just double check and see how they can introduce themselves.
But yeah, it's usually first name. Yeah, it would be rare to find a place where the person's going to say, please call me boss.
Right. It's probably not going to happen.
No. I think a lot of American companies now, it really, there's a huge range depending on your company culture, guys.
So you need to check in. We can't give you one definitive answer of how people should be called.
But I think a lot of, especially in 2023 and moving forward in the tech age, in the online work from home age, people are moving towards more egalitarian structures and just a little bit more casual interactions, I guess.
But don't forget, you're still always at work and you need to be respectful, of course, and professional, right?
Yeah. Good point. Good point. Yeah. Abercrombie's Viral Denim Sale is back.
And Spotify listeners get an extra 15% off with code SPOTIFYAF.
Abercrombie is known for their denim. With 30 to 50% off all jeans, find out how denim should feel.
Shop the viral denim sale in the Abercrombie app, online or in stores.
Valid in stores and online through August 11th, 2025 in US and Canada.
Excludes clearance, price reflects discount.
Code valid in US and Canada through August 11th, 2025.
Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, Michelle, what's up next? all right well then i just wanted to touch on the sir ma'am miss um you know those names come we can talk more about them another day but yeah so i mean they're i would say they're still used um but i don't know they're a little bit more formal yeah i think uh you know if you don't know someone as well maybe this is not about a boss that you interact with every day maybe it's more you're on the phone with a client or a customer or something right a little more distance where you're using i'm sorry sir you know we can't fulfill your order or something exactly exactly all right let's do a role play we're not going to use every single one but we're going to throw in as many as we can all right so here it's my first day and michelle you are telling me about the people in the company yeah i need to know the lay of the land bonus for you for today michelle good way of the land yes all right so here we go So as you know, Vivian is the big boss.
Right. So is she your direct supervisor?
No. Monica is in charge of this department.
She is the big cheese, but I call the shots when it comes to design.
Oh, nice. Yeah. This is kind of a fun, casual, you know, these expressions, right?
Again, the big cheese. So let's go through what we said here, Michelle.
What did we say? All right. So I said Vivian is the big boss.
So what do I mean by the big boss? Don't you hear people say the big boss?
Sometimes I do. Yeah. I don't really know if that means like the the CEO of the company, like the very top top or exactly what that means.
I don't actually know what that means. Yeah.
Well, I would say that it means that it's like not necessarily like like the person who oversees.
I mean, maybe it's. someone who completely oversees your department just whoever you would think is the highest person but not it i mean it could be the ceo but it could also just be like you have your department and then the person who leads a bunch of the departments like okay so it's like your boss's boss or boss's boss yes that's what i would say yeah your boss's boss so yeah the big boss um okay got it and then uh what was the next thing i said Uh, so I said, right.
So she's your direct supervisor, right? You said, no, Monica is in charge of, and be careful guys with the grammar, right?
Michelle to be in charge of, we need all those pieces in there, all those prepositions, right?
Right. If you're talking about what she, the person is in charge of, otherwise you could just say Monica's in charge.
Yeah. If you're not being specific. Um, but what is a direct supervisor over a supervisor?
Hmm. Again, this is really shedding light on corporate culture.
But I think it just makes sense that within departments, if you work in the design department, there's probably one direct supervisor you go to that you report to directly.
And you are, as another bonus phrase, you are that person's, they say the phrase direct reports, right?
Direct reports. How many direct reports does your supervisor have under him or her, right?
Right, right, right. So that's another good one.
And then I was having fun and I said, geez, the big cheese, but I call the shots when it comes to design.
So I'm saying that's my responsibility. Like, yeah, that's the, that's the boss, but I'm, I'm also important.
I make some decisions too. Right. Nice. I like it.
I like it. This is a good blend of very utilitarian phrases and then also kind of fun Hollywood-ish.
Yeah. Yeah. Exaggerated phrases like the big cheese.
Yeah. Yeah. Big cheese. Funny. All right.
Good stuff, Michelle. Today, what's our takeaway for our listeners?
Guys, there are tons of words that you can use to describe a boss, a supervisor.
Listen to what others say in your company.
A lot depends on the company culture. So we always talk about that.
You kind of, you know, take a moment to observe, see the kinds of things you hear.
But, you know, overall, we hope that you have good relationships with your supervisors and that all as well.
Yeah, I mean, this one's an especially important area where you want to pay attention to what people are saying.
So go out to lunch with a coworker, just listen in, ask them questions and see how they talk about their higher ups or their direct reports, the people below them.
What's the language they're using and mirror that language?
You know, if we've taught you something today that doesn't feel like it would fit in your company culture, scrap it.
You know what I mean? Right. It's really about where you work.
That is the best place to learn. But today we've given you some phrases to get started.
Right, Michelle? All right. Well said, Lindsay.
Thanks, guys, for listening and have a great day.
All right. And don't forget to hit follow on Business English.
Take care, Michelle. Have a good one. Bye, Lindsay.
Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
Want more from All Ears English? Don't miss our biggest and best podcast with 8 million monthly downloads.
Just search for the All Ears English podcast and hit follow to get four new episodes per week on fluency, American culture, grammar, and so much more.
Or tap the link in the show notes. Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
Follow the All Ears English podcast now.
