Observation of Behavior at Work

Over the years I have quietly watched the way my boss treats people when they are working for him and coming to ask questions. Now that the bosses daughter is working with us I am surprised to see the she does not know how to handle him. She is subjected to the same treatment and I can sense her frustration. She came in my office today and broached the subject, thus confirming my suspicion. Why can’t he trust that what she has to say is important? After all she is about to spend his money and we all know that he will have a lot to say about it when he sees the bill. Oddly enough, several minutes later she mentioned to me in passing that he had something urgent to finish but neither of us knew exactly what it was. It actually sounded like she was trying to make excuses for him. I have seen him behave this way in the past with many employees and on a daily basis with his family members. I sometimes think that his ultimate message is that you need to present things that are high priority. I would think that if you can consistently demonstrate to him that when you have something to say, that he can trust that it is important. That he trusts you to be brief and to the point. I would think he could mitigate the problem but he has never been able to express it in words like this. Perhaps it is pointless to try to change the behaviour of an adult who does not want to change.