How do you know if you are a good boss?

I like to think I'm a good boss. I care about my employees, not only about my business. And I hope that if I care about them that the business will do well. However, the fact that I am emphatic does not mean that I am really a good boss.
Years ago I had a pregnant employee, I was pregnant myself, and the conversation was very emotional with our hormones in play, but it was one of the biggest eye openers I ever had.

It was an appraisal, and I had to tell her she wasn't functioning well, but I wanted to help her improve. She had worked there for many more years than me and I thought she knew everything, and asked her to do quite a lot, so I was disappointed that she did not deliver much in my group. I asked her what she thought of me as a Boss. She told me that I intimidated her, as I was a PhD and she had a much lower level of education. The fact was, she intimidated me, as she had worked much longer in the company, knew her way, the people, the politics, and had an air of know it all. I expected her to know things she actually didn't and felt overwhelmed with me sometimes. It was a very emotional discussion, that still impacts me today, as I hadn't realised that her failure was actually my doing.

There are management tools that can prevent a mismatch like this ( see for instance https://steemit.com/management/@hefziba/how-to-grow-people-as-a-manager-no-matter-how-experienced-your-employee-is-or-how-experienced-you-are-in-managing-people). And you can try to emplement this with your best intentions to be a good manager, but it doesn't have to mean you are a good boss. Being good a boss also needs soft skills, correct timing, real interest in what your employees are doing. Are you tired, did you have a fight at home, your emotions should not role downwards, but then again we are all human.

The only way to know if you are good boss is the most tough thing to endure: Ask your employees what you should start, stop and continue doing. Do this in a planed one on one conversation. The feedback is paramount to becoming better at what you do, and to realise what effect your actions have on others.

Make sure you don't get angry or agitated, and truly listen. Sometimes people say things quite forwardly or don't dare to say anything. If the culture you create is open, it will benefit the whole company.

Good luck. If you have any management questions I’m happy to answer them.

Background: I have 10+ years in different start-ups. My background is a PhD in Chemistry and have studied project management. I launched many products with international teams enjoyed working as a program manager under the CEO in a start-up company that was sold for $250M.
Currently I'm building a start-up company myself, that won many (subsidy) grants, and pitch awards. It launched its first product to market in December 2017 within two years