Books
Harvard Business School Publishing. HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Communication. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press (2013).
The best managers know how to communicate clearly and persuasively. How do you stack up? If you read nothing else on communicating effectively, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you express your ideas with clarity and impact—no matter what the situation. Leading experts such as Deborah Tannen, Jay Conger, and Nick Morgan provide the insights and advice you need to: (1) pitch your ideas successfully, (2) connect with your audience, (3) establish credibility, (4) inspire others to carry out your vision, (5) adapt to stakeholders’ decision-making styles, (6) frame goals around common interests, and (7) build consensus and win support.
Harvard Business School Publishing. HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press (2013).
Are your working relationships working against you? To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you’re juggling others’ needs at the expense of your own? By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you’re a young professional or an experienced leader. This book will help you: (1) advance your agenda—and your career—with smarter networking, (2) build relationships that bring targets and deadlines within reach, (3) persuade decision makers to champion your initiatives, (4) collaborate more effectively with colleagues, (5) deal with new, challenging, or incompetent bosses, and (6) navigate office politics.
Useem, Michael. Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001.
When your supervisor is micromanaging you, lacks competence in a particular domain, or has no long-term vision, you’re not powerless to improve the situation. You may be able to turn things around by “leading up” (another term for managing up). Useem draws on vivid examples to show how it’s done—describing, for example, how a U.S. Marine Corps general reconciled his six bosses’ conflicting priorities. Just as leading up yields many benefits, failing to do so can have dire consequences, as Mount Everest mountaineers discovered during a dangerous climb.
Articles
Bossidy, Larry. “What Your Leader Expects of You.” Harvard Business Review. April 2007 (product #R0704C).
The success of an executive team depends heavily on the relationships the boss has with his or her direct reports. Yet the leadership literature has had little to say about what is expected in those relationships—on either side. Larry Bossidy, formerly the chairman and CEO of Honeywell, shares what he calls “the CEO compact,” detailing the behaviors a leader should look for in subordinates and what they should be able to expect in return. A CEO’s best people, he says, know when a situation calls for them to get involved. They generate ideas, put the long-term good above short-term goals, develop leaders among their people, anticipate how world events may affect the company and its competition, expose themselves to new people and ideas, and accept demanding assignments to drive their own growth. On the other side of the compact, the boss should provide clear direction; give frequent, specific, and immediate feedback; be decisive and timely; demonstrate honesty and candor; and offer equitable compensation. Executives who aren’t lucky enough to have such a boss can create a compact with their own subordinates, Bossidy says, and demonstrate by example. The result will be to improve team and company performance and accelerate individual growth.
Field, Anne. “Truth or Consequences: Dealing with a Conflict-Averse Boss.” Harvard Management Communication Letter. April 2005 (product #C0504A).
When a boss can’t communicate directly about problems, the performance of her employees suffers. People routinely receive less-than-forthcoming performance appraisals and thus get little clear guidance on developing their strengths or overcoming their weaknesses. They find it difficult to get the resources they need to complete a project because the boss refuses to stick up for them. And their productivity decreases because they have to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort finding out what the boss really thinks of them. Learn some strategies for forcing needed discussions without making your boss feel she’s being backed into a corner.
Gabarro, John J., and John P. Kotter. “Managing Your Boss.” Harvard Business Review. January 2005 (product #R0501J).
In this classic HBR article, first published in 1980, the authors explain that the manager-boss relationship is one of mutual dependence. Bosses need cooperation, reliability, and honesty from their direct reports. Managers, for their part, rely on bosses for making connections with the rest of the company, setting priorities, and obtaining critical resources. It only makes sense to work at making the relationship operate as smoothly as possible. Successfully managing your relationship with your boss requires that you have a good understanding of your supervisor and of yourself, particularly strengths, weaknesses, work styles, and needs. Once you are aware of what impedes or facilitates communication with your boss, you can take actions to improve your relationship. You can usually establish a way of working together that makes both of you more productive and effective.
Harvard Business School Publishing. “Five Questions About Interviewing Your Prospective Supervisor: With Rich Wellins.” Harvard Management Update. October 2004 (product #U0401B).
Most hiring managers look at the personality fit between themselves and job candidates, but few prospective employees give it much thought, and many later discover that they and their supervisors are mismatched. Wellins describes how to initiate frank discussions with prospective supervisors—and how to get telltale glimpses into their personalities. This process is as relevant to considering a new internal assignment as it is to interviewing for a position at a different company.
Harvard Business School Publishing. “Narcissistic Leaders.” Harvard Management Communication Letter. June 2000 (product #C0006E).
Many companies are discovering that “there is no substitute for narcissistic leaders in this age of innovation,” as Michael Maccoby has pointed out in Harvard Business Review. Maccoby was referring to those brash and thoroughly egotistical visionaries who so often head up companies. Learning how to communicate with such bosses is nothing short of a strategic management skill. This article offers some pointers for dealing with the raging narcissist in the corner suite.
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. “The Cure for Horrible Bosses.” Harvard Business Review. October 2011 (product #F1110E).
In her HBR column, Kanter argues that the best way to counter the effects of a horrible boss is to cultivate a strong network of colleagues.
Sasser, W. Earl, Jeffrey Pfeffer, and Paul Falcone. “Challenge the Boss or Stand Down?” Harvard Business Review. May 2011 (product #R1105M).
In this fictional case study, Tom Green, an aggressive young sales executive, has been promoted to senior marketing specialist by his division VP. The VP has warned him that he’ll have to learn fast and work well with his new boss, Frank Davis. On the job, Tom finds himself at odds with Frank and challenges him openly at a well-attended meeting. Frank begins to formally document deficiencies in Tom’s performance, and the division VP falls in line with Frank. With his back against the wall, Tom must carefully consider his next move. Harvard Business School professor W. Earl Sasser presents the case; Jeffrey Pfeffer, of Stanford University, and Paul Falcone, of Time Warner Cable, offer their expert commentary.
Meister, Jeanne. “Manage Up and Across with Your Mentor.” January 31, 2013.
Jeanne Meister, coauthor of The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today and a partner at Future Workplace, which helps organizations redefine their corporate learning and talent management strategies, discusses how your mentor can help you manage up and across. From sharing deeper institutional knowledge with you to tips for understanding what’s happening at your boss’s level to figuring out which battles to fight and how to fight them, this podcast offers a host of ways your mentor can help you work more effectively across your organization.