I am not a huge comic book/superhero fan, but I did enjoy The Dark Knight this past weekend.  While a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger might be a bit much, there is no doubt that strong acting, coupled with violent outbursts of action, made the film a smashing success.

But I'm not here to lobby for Ebert or Roeper's old job.  Rather, I'd like to tell you why you are Batman and your boss is The Joker. Or the other way around.

The prevailing theme throughout The Dark Knight is the dependency between the hero and the villain.  Without each other to fight, where would the other be?  The question to ask yourself is: how good would you be at what you do without a boss?

The answer might seem simple: 'I'd be better off with no one to answer to!'  But let's look a little deeper.  Take a crack at these questions:

Without a boss...

- Who would you fight?
- Who would motivate you?
- Who would hold you accountable?
- Who would you rally against?
- How would you fill the time?
- How would you bond with the team?


It's an eternal relationship that is dependent on each other. Without the roles of boss and employee we'd have no story. No HR. No happy hour. No Jobacle.

Good and evil are intertwined; each unable to exist without the other.

And while you're sitting there assuming that you are playing the heroic Batman  and that your boss has taken the role of The Joker, remember this...

The Joker yearns for anarchy and chaos; your boss wants the opposite.

You might be The Joker after all.

No matter which role you play, it's all one big power struggle with tons of collateral damage.  Try to have some sympathy for the other side.  

Just don't be Two-Face. The workplace has enough of those already.