Managing Up

Book description

Build vital connections to accelerate your career success

Managing Up is your guide to the most valuable 'soft skill' your career has ever seen. It's not about sucking up or brown-nosing; it's about figuring out who you are, who your boss is, and finding where you meet. It's about building real relationships with people who have influence over your career. Managing up is good for you, good for your boss, and good for the organization as a whole. This book gives you strategies for developing these all-important connections and building more than rapport; you become able to quickly assess situations, and determine which actions will move you forward; you become your own talent manager, and your boss's top choice for that new opportunity. As a skill, managing up can do more for your career than simply 'networking' ever could—and this book shows you how.

Real-world strategies give you a set of actionable steps, supplemented by expert advice from a top leadership consultant that helps you get on track to advancement. It's never too early or too late to start adjusting your alignment, and this book provides the help you need to start accelerating your trajectory.

  • Develop robust relationships with influential people
  • Enhance your self-awareness and become more adaptable
  • Gain new opportunities and accelerate your career
  • Stop 'schmoozing' and develop true, lasting connections

Managing up helps you build the sort of relationships that foster more communication, collaboration, cooperation, and understanding between people at different levels of power, with a variety of perspectives and skills. This type of bridge-building builds your reputation for effectiveness and fit, so you can start skipping rungs on the ladder as you build a strong, successful career. Managing Up is your personal manual for building this vital skill so you can begin building your best future.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. About the Author
  5. Introduction
  6. 1 Stop Complaining and Start Winning – Managing Up Is the Key to Your Success
    1. Your Boss Matters
    2. Your Boss Isn't Going to Change
    3. Your Career Matters
    4. Everybody Has to Manage Up, So Learn to Be Good at It
    5. Choice Is Empowerment
    6. Stop Waiting for the Unicorn and Start Working Well with the Boss You Have
    7. Managing Up Will Make You a Better Leader
    8. Objections to This Book
    9. Time to Man Up
  7. 2 Is Your Boss an Innie or Outie?
    1. Understanding the Innie and Outie Preference
  8. 3 The Innie
    1. Potential Benefits and Challenges of the Innie Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Introvert
  9. 4 The Outie
    1. Potential Benefits and Challenges of the Outie Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Extrovert
  10. 5 Workplace Styles – Assessing Your Boss's Workstyle Personality
    1. Four Common Workstyle Personalities: A Simple Model for Understanding Your Boss
  11. 6 The Energizer
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Energizer Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Energizer Boss
  12. 7 The Advancer
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Advancer Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Advancer Boss
  13. 8 The Harmonizer
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Harmonizer Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Harmonizer Boss
  14. 9 The Evaluator
    1. Discovering the Drivers: Understanding the Evaluator Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Evaluator Boss
  15. 10 Difficult Bosses
  16. 11 The Micromanager
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Micromanager
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Micromanager
  17. 12 The Hands‐Off, Absentee, Ghost Boss
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Ghost Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Ghost Boss
  18. 13 The Narcissist
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Narcissist Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Narcissist
  19. 14 The Impulsive Boss
    1. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Impulsive Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Impulsive Boss
  20. 15 The Pushover
    1. Signs of the Pushover
    2. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Pushover
    3. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Pushover
  21. 16 The BFF Boss
    1. The BFF Boss Danger Zone
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the BFF Boss
  22. 17 The Workaholic
    1. Discovering the Drivers: Understanding the Workaholic Boss
    2. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Workaholic Boss
  23. 18 The Incompetent
    1. Signs of the Incompetent
    2. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Incompetent Boss
    3. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Incompetent
  24. 19 The Nitpickers and Seagulls
    1. The Nitpicker
    2. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Nitpicker
    3. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Nitpicker
    4. The Seagull Boss: Poopers and Poachers
    5. Discover the Drivers: Understanding the Seagull
    6. Proven Strategies to Manage Up the Seagull
  25. 20 The Truly Terrible – Psycho Crazy Bully Tyrannical Screaming Egomaniacs
    1. Signs of the Truly Terrible
  26. 21 It's Okay to Quit
    1. Should You Go or Should You Stay?
  27. 22 Bonus Tips – 50 Ways to Manage Your Manager
  28. Index
  29. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Managing Up
  • Author(s): Mary Abbajay
  • Release date: April 2018
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119436683