Managing up

Recently some of my Boomer friends have been venturing into new companies - ones founded and run by members of Generation X or Y. One friend told me this...

Raise your profile without upsetting your manager.

Show them you’re on the same side.

Make sure you're prepared for the fallout.

Manage higher, manage diagonally, and manage outside.

Own the mistake and offer a solution.

Five strategies to consider when every task, no matter how small, seems to invite scrutiny.

Ghosts, werewolves, vampires - oh my.

Over the past few weeks, I grew sick of listening to "big picture" stories on the financial crisis that only covered the last 5 to 10 years. That's not...

Having a passive manager doesn’t have to be a frustrating experience.

When to leave and when to stick it out.

Five ways to get the most out of your one-on-one conversations with your skip-level manager.

What to do when you see an opportunity, but don’t know which levers to pull.

Take the lead.

Would you like a better boss? A boss who helps you obtain valuable information, win needed resources, and secure important support for your group and for you personally — in short, a boss who’s a real ally and partner? If your boss provides these benefits, you’re lucky. We hear far more complaints than praise from […]

Don’t stoop down to their level.

One of my early mentors used the word “approbation” frequently. I don’t hear it much these days, but he spoke often of having “approbation” for colleagues, particularly young people whom he “had time for,” whose views he valued enough to consider thoughtfully. The dictionary defines “approbation” as “an expression of warm approval” and emphasizes that […]

A TV producer struggles to balance three hit shows and a new pilot.

How can subordinates improve relations with their superiors? And how can superiors help their subordinates feel comfortable in what is often a tense relationship? These questions have usually been dealt with only indirectly in management circles. Yet the relationship is so threatening to many subordinates that they react in ways that are damaging to themselves […]

A project manager with a talent for creating dashboards, David is frustrated by his repressive, micromanaging boss, Thaddeus - aka "the Commodore." Thaddeus...