Page 78 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

GET INTO THE RIGHT MEETINGS,
OR YOU MAY AS WELL STAY HOME
It’s important to understand where the box of fairy dust is kept in your
organization and make sure you are visible there. I know that when I was
rising at the Hancock, there was never any question about who was in
charge, and that was the CEO. Even though I had other bosses, some of
whom were difficult, I worked very hard to make sure that I had a good
relationship with the CEO.
Whoever the powers are in your organization, getting exposure to them
is important. If your boss is carrying most of your work into meetings with
the higher-ups but leaving you out, that’s
a problem. You just cannot allow it at
YOU CAN EXPECT this level. You have to say, “I want to
TO RUN INTO present this.” And if the boss does not
INCOMPETENT agree, you have to either escape that boss
BOSSES AS YOU or find another way in. If you have an
RISE. AND THEY ally who is invited to these meetings, ask
MAY FAIL TO FULLY her to say that she’d like your thoughts
APPRECIATE HOW next time. Or ask her to get her boss to
TALENTED YOU ARE. do it.
Chances are good that your boss
won’t even comprehend that he’s been
ambushed. He’ll just say casually to you, “I’ve been thinking. You should
be coming to these meetings.”
Before you go to meetings with your boss and the top people in your
organization, my advice is study, study, and study.
Why? Because until you are in one of the top slots, someone else in the
room will be making the decisions. So you are there as a resource.And the
most helpful thing you can offer is knowledge that allows the higher-ups
to evaluate whatever issue is on the table.
Really knowing your stuff is what will get you invited back—and it’s
the only thing that will diminish your boss’s control over you.

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