History Main / BenevolentBoss

** Sometimes Mac seems to think of his team as family of sorts on ''{{Series/CSINY}}''; he ''did'' tell Christine the job had become his world. It's obvious how close he is to them all. He is no-nonsense on the job but makes up for it.

* Barney Miller on [[Series/BarneyMiller]]. Best of all dream bosses.
%%* Edward James Olmos as Bill Adama, ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Battlestar Galactica]]''.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [[Characters/GravityFallsMabelPines Mabel Pines]] starts out this way when she gets to run the Shack in "Boss Mabel". Ultimately deconstructed as she can't bring herself to say no to [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Soos']] ridiculous mascot idea, [[TheSlacker Wendy]] takes advantage of Mabel's niceness to go goof off with her friends, and Dipper's attempt to liven up the Shack with an actual monster, the Gremoblin, goes horribly wrong (first by no one believing it's a monster and then it escaping in part of Mabel's attempt at being nice). After the twins scare the Gremoblin away, Mabel ends up snapping at Soos and Wendy after the two try to get out of fixing the damage done to the Mystery Shack, and she ends up barking orders like Stan to get things done.

* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Ami is kind and gentle to all her minions. Of course being a Dungeon Keeper and basically a designated agent of darkness, she has tremendous trouble getting people to actually believe that. She also ''has'' to give most of her minions the impression that she's a faithful servant of the dark gods, or they'll turn on her. Within those constraints, though, she really does try to make her Dungeon as livable as possible. It pays off in a big way with [[spoiler:Jadeite, who likes her service ''much'' better than Queen Beryl's, and becomes genuinely loyal to her as a result, rescuing her from multiple situations -- such as being possessed by Tiger -- where a more mercenary underling might have backstabbed her]].

%%* Kiichi Goto, ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}''.

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'':
** A villainous example. The true BigBad, [[spoiler:Bagan]], gets the loyalty of numerous evil kaiju not only by a show of force but by offering and giving them exactly what they wanted most. Most pledged their loyalty without hesitation. [[spoiler:However, it's all an act. Bagan is an OmnicidalManiac and the only reason why he recruited the kaiju is that he requires help to replenish his strength enough to leave his realm. As soon as he is strong enough, he plans to wipe out all life in the universe, including them.]]
** Captain Blueberry Frost is a heroic example, watching out for the well-being of the guards and taking a personal interest in them being stable. Her own boss Princess Celestia excels at this, functioning as a well-loved diarch who personally gets involved when the safety of her subjects is put in danger. She assists the allied kaiju in settling in and gives Godzilla Junior advice on numerous occasions to help him get used to his role as 'king'.

** Big Boss arguably qualifies for Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, as many of the soldiers seem to praise him. His army in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' is consisted of defeated soldiers and volunteers, and he never gave them much trouble (The worst thing he did is fired them, usually if Mother Base is overcrowded), and in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', he even helps and recruits his former enemies. You can't get a mercenary who is more benevolent than that.

* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Unlike Commander Gendo, Sub-commander Fuyutsuki tries to be fair and is pretty reasonable. Shinji and Asuka go to him when they need something because they know that he’ll hear them out at least. For that matter, he didn’t want to handle the task of reprimanding the pilots after their quad bike race, but he did anyway because he knew that Gendo would be harsher.

%%* In ''Series/{{Castle}}'', Beckett's boss, Captain Montgomery, is just awesome. He also is bald.

** Iroh is a good candidate for this trope. He withdrew his troops from a two-year-long siege of Ba Sing Se when he realized that it was pretty much hopeless (granted, it took the death of his only son to see this...), and he acts more or less like the [[OnlySaneMan voice of reason]] to the troops under Zuko's command during his exile. It is probably safe to say that Iroh is the ''only'' reason that the crew did ''not'' mutiny the entire time they were under [[HairTriggerTemper Zuko's]] command.
** Zuko has his moments in the first season too, despite being a {{Jerkass}} at the same time. He nearly kills himself saving the life of his ship's [[{{Mooks}} helmsman]], and this is ''after'' his crew spent a good half of the episode bad-mouthing Zuko for his [[{{Irony}} jerk assery]].
* Bruce Wayne's Benevolent Boss qualities are shown in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', most overtly in "Mean Seasons". After he finds out that his senior manager Bernie Benson is retiring due to his company's mandatory retirement rule, despite the fact that he clearly ''loves'' his job and doesn't want to leave, Bruce starts to see how similar it is to how unfairly Calendar Girl was treated, neglected simply because she was considered too old for the career she loved. Eventually, Bruce decides to change the retirement policy, telling Bernie, much to his delight, that he can do his job for as long as he is able.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Mabel starts out this way when she gets to run the Shack in "Boss Mabel". Ultimately deconstructed as she can't bring herself to say no to [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Soos']] ridiculous mascot idea, [[TheSlacker Wendy]] takes advantage of Mabel's niceness to go goof off with her friends, and Dipper's attempt to liven up the Shack with an actual monster, the Gremoblin, goes horribly wrong (first by no one believing it's a monster and then it escaping in part of Mabel's attempt at being nice). After the twins scare the Gremoblin away, Mabel ends up snapping at Soos and Wendy after the two try to get out of fixing the damage done to the Mystery Shack, and she ends up barking orders like Stan to get things done.

** Homer himself played it quite straight when he became CEO and overthrew Mr. Burns until he realized that he was missing out on his family and gave up the position. (Burns has a seemingly heartfelt conversation with Homer about the time running the plant costs someone, only to hit him with a tranq dart and attempt to wall him up in a mausoleum. Being as frail as he is, he's barely finished a row of bricks by the time Homer wakes up. The bemused Homer puts a blanket on Burns's shoulders and walks off while Burns continues to add bricks.)
** Another example is when Homer is put in charge of the Nuclear plant outsource in India. Mostly we see his [[AGodAmI megalomaniac behavior]] after a few silly comments and a fortune cookie, but it turns out in the end that the worshipful behavior from the employees is due to him giving them all the benefits typical to American workers, but denied outsourced labor, such as unions, vacation time and [[spoiler: severance pay, to Burns's dismay]]. Their chanting while cheering him on translates to union slogans.

* Despite being a BigBad bent on world domination, Lord Hordak of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' is a remarkably benevolent boss to his underlings. He rewards genuine effort and competence with promotion, patches over shaky loyalty with favoritism, punishes complacent attitudes and BadBoss behavior with demotion, and only berates his minions when they [[NeverMyFault refuse to acknowledge their mistakes]]. He also doesn't try to micromanage his subordinates, giving them more latitude to act and even officially authorizing their actions if those actions benefit the Horde.
* [[spoiler:[[TokenGoodTeammate Pink Diamond]]]] from ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' turns out to be this, especially in regards to her Pearl, [[spoiler:''our'' Pearl.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': Mr. Krabs is this towards [=SpongeBob=], at least when money is not involved, although this can depend on the episode. An example is in "Nature Pants". At the start, he actually had legit reason to fire [=SpongeBob=], but despite multiple offenses (he mentions it's the fourth time that week [=SpongeBob=] began neglecting his job), he calmly talks with [=SpongeBob=] about it. He sincerely tries to make [=SpongeBob=] feel good about the life he has without being condescending. During the welcome home party, he gives [=SpongeBob=] a free Krabby Patty, embraces him, and immediately rehires him (or never fired him), despite [=SpongeBob=] walking out on the job. In short, this is one of the episodes where Mr. Krabs is at his most generous, to the point it's a bit jarring to know what [[{{Flanderization}} he would become in later seasons]].

** AC Tsuchinoko's CEO Isokawa founded his studio to give animators a place to work and to help them improve their skills, so they can eventually get the recognition they deserve.

* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Unlike Commander Gendo, Sub-commander Fuyutsuki tries to be fair and is pretty reasonable. Shinji and Asuka go to him when they need something because they know that he’ll hear them out at least. For that matter, he didn’t want to handle the task of reprimanding the pilots after their quad bike race, but he did anyway because he knew that Gendo would be harsher.

Contrast with MeanBoss (impolite), BadBoss (downright cruel) and PointyHairedBoss (incompetent). Compare ReasonableAuthorityFigure, who may be sympathetic to others (including those that don't work for them), and the CluelessBoss, who means well, but is out of touch with his organization or too incompetent to run it properly. See also LadyAndKnight, where the knight is dedicated to the lady because of qualities such as benevolence. NiceToTheWaiter is related, but is about the relationship between customer and service provider, rather than employer and employee. See also PuttingThePalInPrincipal and HonestCorporateExecutive.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'''s Big Boss arguably qualifies for Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, as many of the soldiers seem to praise him.
** Indeed. His army in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' is consisted of defeated soldiers and volunteers, and he never gave them much trouble (The worst thing he did is fired them, usually if Mother Base is overcrowded), and in ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', he even helps and recruits his former enemies. You can't get a mercenary who is more benevolent than that.

* The Overmind in ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' is a horrifying alien abomination that wants to consume or assimilate all other life into the Zerg Swarm. But from the Zerg's point of view, he's a very encouraging, benevolent leader, calling the swarm his children and recognizing and rewarding success.

* Goro Majima, as shown in ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', is a pretty great boss, but only when working in legitimate business with civilians; he listens to his employees and will give them time off with pay if they're too stressed, steps in to calm rowdy customers to protect those under him, and will settle disputes himself rather than let them fester and drag down morale. He's a legend among the Sotenbori nightlife, with both his workers at The Grand and Club Sunshine praising him for being kind, gentle and highly business savvy. When working with other yakuza in criminal enterprises, on the other hand, Majima is a BadBoss who will threaten his underlings to get results and will beat the crap out of them if he's feeling bored. And yet somehow the Majima family loves him and [[UndyingLoyalty would never think to betray him]], likely because he's a legendary figure who brings money and prestige to those he surrounds himself with.
* ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' has Ichiban Kasuga who becomes this in his own way in Ichiban Holdings that he's throwing yen like it's the 80s all over again, able to recruit a menagerie of some of the best employees who have nothing but the best things to say, including the above Mad Dog of Majima, and the previous series' main character, Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''Franchise/XMen'':
** Genocidal maniac though he may be, ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} is surprisingly consistent in his good treatment of those who serve him well. Adaptations such as his [[Film/XMenApocalypse film version]] sometimes do away with this, but in the comics, it's as close to a constant as character traits in comics get.

** Exodus of [[Characters/XMenAcolytes Magneto's Acolytes]] is AFatherToHisMen and has inspired a remarkable degree of loyalty in them considering his occasional tendency to degenerate the other way (DependingOnTheWriter, of course). Being a SuperpowerLottery winner, he has even gone so far as to resurrect fallen Acolytes after they died in battle, which might account for some of that UndyingLoyalty.
* ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} buys out [[EvilInc Advanced Idea Mechanics]] while working with the ComicBook/{{Avengers}}, and is shown to be a highly generous boss who pays his employees handsomely, remembers them all by name, and rewards them with extravagant gifts when they have a particularly good idea. His acquisition of A.I.M. worked in part because the employees liked him a lot more than their previous boss.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Golden Age Phillip Darnell cares deeply for his subordinates and frequently gives his secretary Diana Prince and top operative ComicBook/SteveTrevor time off at the drop of a hat, asks after their health and families and worries that their interactions with Franchise/WonderWoman and other superheroes are going to get them injured or worse.

* ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamCity'': While not necessarily a very good boss, ComicBook/TwoFace seems to be the only villain who cares about his underlings, giving inspiring speeches and trying to raise morale among his minions. However, his dual personalities make for wild shifts in character, so whether he's understanding and benevolent or willing to [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cut a goon in half]] for [[YouHaveFailedMe screwing up an order]] is entirely dictated literally by the flip of a coin.
* In VideoGame/TheCouncilOfHanwell, the mayor calls the other Council members many times to remind them to get out of town. She does force essential personnel to stay in the science facility up to an hour before the anomaly outbreak, but it seems that left them enough to escape. She is the only one who stays behind in the facility [[spoiler:besides for the Doctor]]. Doesn't make her less evil, though.

Given how often managers and leaders tend to be older, expect this trope to frequently overlap with CoolOldGuy/CoolOldLady.

* ''Manga/DungeonNoOsananajimi'': Mino-san, one of Wyrm Hell's top executives, does not like low-level monster Succy the Succubus due to a combination of a general dislike of succubi and because her actions inadvertently get between his shipping of Van and Ryuuka. However when Succy, oblivious to how Mino-san feels about her, confesses to feeling inadequate to the task being a monster of Wyrm Hell, he gives her sincere advice on how to turn her abilities, pros and cons alike, to her advantage. As Mino-san does this, there's a note next to him explaining that he doesn't allow his personal feelings to interfere with his work. The chapter ends with Succy seeing greater success, using her attempts to seduce incoming adventurers as a distraction to help other monsters rather than as an attack in and of itself.