The bosses are a shade different (5)
I believe the answer is:
heads
'the bosses' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a shade different' is the wordplay.
'different' indicates anagramming the letters (letters placed in a different order).
'shade' is an anagram of 'HEADS'.
'are' is the link.
(Other definitions for heads that I've seen before include "Coin-tossing call" , "Leaders" , "Goes for" , "Ship's latrine; addicts" , "Obverse of a coin" .)