Page 75 - Executive Warfare

Bosses

be paying you all this money.”And he walked out of his office and left the
building.
That was the extent of my feedback. So what did I do? I went out and
got a haircut.
Next, I went to tell one of the senior people this story and ask for some
advice. He laughed. “Do you have the presentation on a word processor
so you can make another copy?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said.
“Use that.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Fred never looked at a word of it,”the guy said sagely.“He’s just teach-
ing you who’s boss.”
The next time I saw Fred was at the client presentation. I used the same
presentation he’d ripped up. The client gave us the account on the spot.
Fred put his arm around me and told the client that I was the brand new
star of the agency.
I was thinking to myself, “Why am I
THE DOWNSIDE TO
waiting for him to tell me my hair looks
BECOMING THE
better?” Bosses can so mess with your
FAVORED
psyche, if you let them.
IMPLEMENT IN THE
At the end of the quarter, we got the
BOSS’S DRAWER IS
first payment on this new account.I asked
THAT SHE WILL
Fred about the 5 percent that was mine,
BECOME
and he said, “What percentage? I just
DEPENDENT ON
made you that promise to get you here.”
YOU.
A lot of people live in places like that,
where they are constantly being car-
roted and sticked by manipulative bosses. It’s not unusual for a boss to
promise the same job to three people.And then the boss will come up with
a series of excuses as to why you didn’t get it.
People’s hopes are often dashed because they depend on the word of
people above them. In recent years, an awful lot of ambitious people have

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