How to Make Your Boss Look Good — Without Becoming a Sycophant
by Michael Schrage
I find suck-ups loathsome. But I admire the managing-up technique I’ve seen ambitious people skillfully deploy. No fawning or flattery—they make smart use of technology to make their bosses look good.
For example, the boss’s boss at one marketing firm had given a keynote speech at a major industry event. A twentysomething analyst easily found a couple of complimentary tweets referencing the talk. He e-mailed them to his fortysomething boss, who barely knew what Twitter was, but who was thrilled to bring them to his boss’s attention. Win. Win. Win. Everyone was happy. A simple 90-second investment made his boss look good.
At another firm, a project manager found ...
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