I always love writing an article where we try to learn business and professional lessons from a movie or TV show. So, when it comes to running an office, it seems like a no-brainer to look at The Office.

The original British Office is incredible, the O.G., and maybe a little more realistic. But it really is a case study of why David Brent is a terrible boss.

Michael Scott from the U.S. Office is a more interesting examination. He clearly isn't cartoonishly bad at running an office. There are some episodes that strain credulity: "Scott's Tots", kidnapping the pizza delivery guy. Generally, Michael is believable.

Is he good at his job?

As a salesman, the show establishes that, yes, he is. His sales record was always the best in the company, which is why he got promoted to Regional Manager. Look up "the Peter Principle" for this phenomenon of rising up to where you become bad at your job.

Since Michael Scott is a manager, the question is: Is he a good boss? I think I'm going to make the case that overall, he is a good manager, warts and all.


Characteristics Of A Good Boss

I can't think of any definitive book or business leader with a definitive list of traits for a good manager. But let's see how Michael fares in this fair list of good boss characteristics:

Inspires, empowers, and supports their team through clear communication, shows empathy, leads by example, focusing on the "why" while trusting the team with the "how," making people feel valued, is a good listener, provides honest feedback, and creates trust and psychological safety rather than micromanaging or instilling fear.

Let's see on each and assign a letter grade:

Inspires (C-): Not very inspirational. He encourages Pam's artistic ambitions and thinks he's grooming Jim and Ryan, but otherwise, nobody seems inspired. To be fair, he throws a lot of power to the Party Planning Committee.

Empowers (B): It's maybe accidental, but the accounting department is autonomous, Toby runs the show in H.R., and really does delegate a lot to Dwight.

Clear Communication (A-): There aren't too many things that Michael lets go unsaid. For better or worse, he is a straight shooter.

Empathy (C+): As much as he desperately cares about what other people think of him, he's too narcissistic to actually see or hear other people outside of his perspective.

Leads By Example (B): His behavior is chaotic. But he loves the company. And he is a legendary salesman with great numbers.

Focuses On "Why" (A-): He may be bat-shit at times, but think of how many times he pulls everybody into the conference room to explain his thinking on almost every conceivable issue.

Making People Feel Valued (B+): Phyllis and Stanley might not feel understood, but he is so willing to hear Kelly tell stories about anything. He's got a work crush on Ryan, but also Jim and Pam. And he understands the workplace value of pizza or an office party.

Is A Good Listener (D): Not really. He doesn't shush people, but it's hard to get through to Michael.

Provides Honest Feedback (A-): Again, he is completely transparent.

Creates Trust And Safety (B): That seems like the most chaotic office imaginable. But nobody gets fired. He demonstrates extraordinary tolerance with Dwight and Stanley at times, tolerant and pleasant with everybody except for Toby.


Within Dunder Mufflin

Say what you will about Michael Scott, but the Scranton branch is one of the few successful branches of Dunder-Mufflin.

In the show, 13 branches of Dunder-Mufflin are mentioned, in addition to Corporate HQ in New York City.



The branches were: Scranton (PA), Stamford (CT), Utica (NY), Pittsfield (MA), Akron (OH), Albany (NY), Nashua (NH), Rochester (NY), Syracuse (NY), Binghamton (NY), Buffalo (NY), Camden (NJ), and Yonkers (NY), plus the Corporate HQ in NYC.

Lots of the branches went under. Pittsfield closed in Season 2. Stamford gets folded into the Scranton branch in Season 2. Buffalo, Camden, and Yonkers closures are announced at the company picnic in Season 2. Robert California shutters Binghamton when drunk in Season 8.

For starters, that's 6 out of 7 regional offices going under, none of which were run by Michael Scott.

In other episodes, we learn that other managers are as sketchy, if not worse than, Michael. Craig from Albany in Season 2 was even less prepared than Michael in a company meeting. You could make a case that the other managers who tried to replace him were all worse: Charles (Idris Elba), Deangelo (Will Ferrell), and Andy (Ed Helms).

For Scranton to thrive, or at least hold onto being profitable longer than others in a clearly dying industry, was fairly impressive.


Of Course This Is Fictional

Characters in the series vary as needed. In episodes of Modern Family, Phil Dunphy seems stupid or savvy, depending on the needs of that episode. Homer on The Simpsons can be an average Joe or almost brain-dead from episode to episode.

The same goes for Michael. He can be cruel or sweet. A brilliant salesman at times and an awful one at others.

And the nature of having series regulars that we know is a reality of making a TV show. Nobody from the original Dunder-Mufflin Scranton office left the company over the course of 9 years, except Michael.


How Did He Do With The Michael Scott Paper Company?

In anger with Charles Minor taking over, he quit and then started his own paper company, The Michael Scott Paper Company. Michael knew everything about the paper industry better than anybody, so it made some sense for that to be his area.

For him to succeed, he had to lower prices so much that it was absolutely unsustainable. But they scared Dunder-Mifflin enough that he got a buy-out offer, their jobs back, and got rid of the manager he didn't want.

I think we'd have to say that The Michael Scott Paper Company was a success. A completely accidental success, but a success.


Is He A Good Boss?

I'm going with yes.

Of course, Michael Scott is unreasonable when he needs everyone to be his friend. But that does drive him to try to be empathetic as much as he can. But Michael also feels like he needs to be respected as a boss. That's actually a good thing, as strange as that seems to say in that case.

Looking at the bottom line: Other than the mass exodus of the Stamford transfer employees in Season 3, his employee retention numbers are incredible. And his branch was the most successful one throughout Dunder-Mifflin.

Further Reading: A great Reddit post from a few years ago supports my case.