As Challenge #4, “Biggest lesson I learned at work,” continues through August 27, we’re thrilled to announce three winners of Six Words About Work Challenge #3: The Best Boss I Ever Had.

U.S. Winner—George Sosa, “Promoted truth, justice and eventually, me.”
George is a Brooklyn-bred, now Queens, NY-based video cameraperson and editor, primarily doing documentary work. He explains his memoir “is the result of thinking about the common qualities of my favorite employers. Straight-forwardness and fair play. They all had been open, secure and fair enough to recognize my talent and encourage its—and my—development. I’ve been the better for it, and hopefully so have their companies and productions.” George reports that he first found SMITH when he followed a link from another site to our Pekar Project comic, then Six Words—”and I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Canada Winner—Rose Atkinson, “Advised: Be CEO of own workspace.”
Rose has worked in the nonprofit sector for 13 years, describing herself as “a life-long learner who gets to do life with some pretty amazing people. I track far and wide: global philanthropy trends, local community events, things that help people to save money, give money and help others.” She lives in western Canada, where she first learned of SMITH and Six Words through a communications teacher at Trinity Western who had the class learn the art of condensing a communication to six words. Of her memoir, she explains that it’s an expression her uncle, the CEO of his own company, has used all her life. “He’s like a mentor to me and coined the phrase (as far as I know) and I typed it up and put it up at my work station.”

UK Winner—Matt Knight, “Hid tears behind a stern face.”
Matt is a student in his third and final year at Communication and Media at Bournemouth University. “I have always enjoyed creative writing and often write short stories and poetry to remain creative while I work on larger project,” he says, adding that he was led to SMITH via a creative writing teacher a few years ago. “I enjoy the exercise of concise writing, being almost forced in some cases to cut out any ‘dead weight’ from a sentence.”

His six words for our Bosses challenge were inspired by his employer from his first part-time job at a Currys superstore. “Our manager was fierce and strict and never got less than he wanted,” recalls Matt. “He usually operated in mind of his reputation, it was this fear that he relied upon to get things done. But over my two years there I befriended him and he eventually became relaxed around me and would tell me about his family and himself; I felt as if I was being allowed to see more of him than most, even though during work hours his demeanor was no different with me as it was anyone else. He is the boss I wrote about, because though his face was stern to everyone, I recognized it for the mask it was.”

Thanks to our guest judge, Tony Schwartz, founder of The Energy Project, and author of many bestselling books, including his recent Be Excellent At Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live..

Didn’t win? There’s still time. We’re giving away three more iPad2s or PlayBooks. Our final challenge, “Biggest lesson I learned at work,” continues through August 27. All entries also are eligible to be part of a special Six Words About Work book we’re publishing this fall. Enter as often as you like on the contest page.

Tags: iPad, Mercer, six-word memoirs, work