Dolly Parton Talks About Being A ‘Good Boss’ And Working With ‘Vampires’

Queen of Country Music Dolly Parton talked about being “a good boss” despite working with people of interesting attitudes in a new interview with People Magazine.

Aside from her successful music career, Parton also owns an array of businesses including the Dollywood theme park and the new Scent From Above fragrance. The 75-year-old music legend is a true girl boss with an estimated $350 million fortune.

The “Jolene” singer said she works hard and expects the same passion and hard work from her employees while maintaining “compassion” in the process.

"I'm a good boss, I think," Parton told People. "I try to rule with love and compassion. But also, there's a fine line that says, 'She's not a pushover.' I'm a fair and honest person. I like to be as friendly as I can and love the people that work with me and I like to have them love me."

The prolific businesswoman can also sense if people have a hidden agenda, "I know that we're using each other and that when it's time for them to go on, they can. But I want to be the kind of person, if they need to come talk to me, they can almost like as a friend and then we'll get to the business," Parton explains. "I don't want anybody to be afraid to come to me."

Parton said she wants to be an approachable boss but she wants her staff to pay close attention to her ideas. "Some people I have to kick their ass up one side and down the other because some people will just not listen."

The “9 To 5” actress also said she has encountered “creative vampires” and “energy vampires” at work. "...You do have your energy vampires and you've got some people that just going to eat you up alive."

She went on to say, "A creative vampire is someone who takes your ideas and they claim them as their own, they take them and then they scatter them out," she said. "There's that old saying, 'There's no limit to what can be done if it doesn't matter who gets the credit,' and there's truth in that. But that's the hardest part if someone takes your idea."

Despite her success in the music industry and in her business ventures, Parton maintains that she knows her limitations and cited the importance of her staff in running her enterprises.

"I have all kinds of companies, like Dollywood. It was my idea to have Dollywood, to have a theme park, but I knew I didn't know anything about running it, but I knew I would find people. So I always do that, though, with anything. I hire people. I see what I need and what I want, but I know I can't do all that myself."

In addition to Dollywood theme park and her new fragrance, Parton also inked a production deal with Netflix, and co-authored a book with James Patterson due for release next year. And along with that, the talented musician also wrote 12 new songs inspired by her book with Patterson.