So you wanna be a boss. Netflix and chill will yourself to get off the couch already. How to Be a Boss (According to Your Favorite Shows) is your excuse to binge all the TV you want. It’s career inspiration, right? As for me, chain-watching teen dramas now qualifies as research to bring you this informative series. We all win.
I’ve had day jobs that felt like prison sentences: cells (windowless cubicles), solitary confinement (no perks), wardens (terrible bosses). But I could rage-quit any time I pleased—the trundle bed in my parents’ basement is still a step up from a prison bunk. There’s no quitting in actual prison, though. That’s the point.
It’s no wonder the inmates of Litchfield Prison—the setting of Netflix’s dramedy series, Orange Is the New Black—have to find creative means to get the things they want. The result: a pretty impressive bartering ecosystem. The underground network runs the gamut from contraband cell phones to skimming panties from a sewing production line. Inadvertently, the women are learning valuable leadership skills in spite of the abysmal education program.
What they experience though, as they vie for power and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, isn’t all that unlike being your own boss on the outside. Resources are limited. Competition is fierce. And the power struggle is real. Here are 16 lessons about being a boss, according to the inmates—and staff—of Litchfield:
1. Find a trustworthy business partner, even if she’s the one who got you into this mess in the first place.
