Help Your Boss Help You

Your Boss’s Boss

Every relationship evolves to an equilibrium over time. Some people can tolerate more conflict than others. Some prefer more distance than others. Some like to battle. Some like to compromise. In any long-term relationship between two people, eventually they’ll work out how to handle conflicts without threatening the integrity of the relationship itself. Much of this book is about how to build such a relationship with your manager in a way that preserves your own sense of self-respect but still gets you what you need when you need it.

Your boss has a relationship with their boss, too. You may know both parties, but you aren’t likely to be a major player in their relationship (and if you are, that’s probably not a good thing). ...