Chris,
I think most of us can identify with having both great and horrible bosses... I know I can!  I too worked in non-profits (church work).  My experience with a worst boss came when he ran rough shod over a team meeting of volunteers that I was leading, and when they reacted negatively, I tried to smooth things over and explain to him what the tension was.  He left our conversation and went to our Personnel Team and lied to the chairman, concocting a story of how I had been disrespectful, rude and unsupportive of him in this meeting.  Of course, the Chairman of our Personnel Team got to the real truth through interviewing the volunteers, but it made for a bad situation, and a rough next 3 years of working for him.  Ultimately, our church asked him to leave based on some of those same patterns.  I learned from his bad example that pride and dishonesty have no places in leadership, and that "the ends justifies the means" is a lie.

My best boss ever was a guy that listened to me, challenged me and even though we don't work together any more, continues to both encourage me and hold me accountable for those tough questions in life!  I appreciate someone like that, someone that doesn't let me off easy, but truly listens to me!

Thanks for the great article!