Managing up

A confident approach is a useful strategy when dealing with difficult people.

People who wish they had more power in their organizations — power to bring their ideas to fruition, power to change policies that make no sense — often try to find the one “big move” that will land them in a position of authority. That’s a long shot, and, in any event, it misses the […]

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

Were you among the hundreds of thousands of passengers recently stranded when American Airlines grounded more than 3,000 flights in less than a week? If yes, I can tell you who to credit, yes, credit — Bobby Boutris and Douglas Peters. Never heard of them? Well, you should have, for they have done no less […]

What to say and when to say it.

Become indispensable.

Tom Green, an aggressive young sales executive at self-service kiosk company D7 Displays, has been promoted to senior marketing specialist by Shannon...

You already know that winning depends in no small part on hiring people better than yourself. If you are a youngish entrepreneur or boss, that will entail hiring older and more experienced people, especially in top roles for your organization. Managing a colleague with ten or fifteen more years of experience than you can present […]

Harry's written a detailed report for his boss, Doreen, about a customer management system he's advocating. But when he meets with Doreen to discuss it,...

Understanding others' goals for your performance gives you leverage in getting what you want and need to do your job.

Over the past few decades I've worked with hundreds of managers, and many complain that they work for micromanagers. But strangely I don't recall anyone...

Having a difficult boss at some point in your career is almost inevitable. Here's what you can you do when you find yourself in this kind of dilemma.

In the movie Office Space — a comedy about work life in a typical 1990s software company — the protagonist, Peter Gibbons, has eight different bosses. All of them, seemingly unaware of each other, pass by his desk and tell him what to do. While the film is most certainly a satire, for some, it […]

Adam Baker is a promising young COO at Straus Event Specialists and the protege of CEO Merwyn Straus, who acquired him along with his failed company,...

Undermanagement can be as serious a problem as micromanagement.

Tom Green, an aggressive young sales executive at self-service kiosk company D7 Displays, has been promoted to senior marketing specialist by Shannon...

How to deal with it

Make sure you're prepared for the fallout.

Some companies are intentionally creating work environments that encourage people to leave "voluntarily." These are the signs.

Harry's written a detailed report for his boss, Doreen, about a customer management system he's advocating. But when he meets with Doreen to discuss it,...