Unconventional ways to impress your boss
I once had a manager who led biweekly "sermons" to the interns on extremely untraditional tactics to advance your career in corporate America.
Only a few years out of college, he was already a Director working between the finance and software teams by becoming indispensable (an article for another day).
His advice often rooted in strategic laziness shocked us. He knew the best way to stand out and get promoted wasn’t by doing what everyone else did.
Jack Smith also praised the power of laziness when I interviewed him and he raised more than $90M for two companies he started before he was 25. Lazy? I don't think so.
While there are good articles on getting your boss to like you, this article covers the unconventional advice you need to hear to have an extra Edge. It combines the biggest lessons of my career and advice from others who advanced their careers incredibly quickly.
With that, there are 3 key fields to focus on.
Always be (or at least look) one step ahead
- Get into the habit of predicting what your boss is going to ask or say about your work. Come with answers to expected questions. Point out what you know they will focus on before they do. Learn to anticipate your boss and their desires. Keep notes on their questions and study their focus and priorities. As you do, you’ll be able to start predicting what they want - focus solely on that.
Quietly learn about upcoming projects from others. Tell your manager how you already met with the team and how you plan to help contribute. Be able to dive into your plan’s details. By talking to others and quickly creating plans for new projects you hear about and are interested in, you look incredibly ahead of the game.
Occasionally, don’t highlight what you’ve already done. Wait until they ask for a specific thing and casually mention how you’ve already completed it. Proceed by asking them if there’s anything else they’d like in addition to it. Do this to build trust and they'll likely stop asking you about routine responsibilities and focus on bigger projects. These are the conversations you want to have.
If asked for something you haven’t done/started, explain what else you were working on, and ask if they would like you to shift your priorities. Only do this if the other project is of similar importance and don't overuse this. If something slipped, apologize, say how you'll make sure it won't happen again, and move on.
By doing these, you will look incredibly proactive and in-the-loop. Once you learn how to do these, you'll find they don't actually take that much extra effort compared to the payoff. These often will make you stand out amongst others. Finally, prioritize getting ahead on the most important projects that will be asked about first.
Get sh*t done
You don’t get paid to bring up problems – you get paid to implement solutions. For any question or issue you have, create 2-3 potential solutions and ask for your manager’s advice on how to proceed. Never come with only a problem. Even when you have no idea how to begin, always show some type of work that moves everyone closer to a solution. (Bonus: as you improve this, you’ll need to ask for less help too.)
Frequently remind them what you’re working on. We tend to overestimate our own impact because we know how much we worked- we were there. However, we often underestimate how much others do since most of it is 'backstage'. Don't go unnoticed. Update your manager on project statuses and highlight measurable results. (Show your impact- "built report for HR" vs "built report for HR giving them insights on headcount analytics they previously didn't have, helping them better understand XYZ"). Briefly do this in weekly meetings or an email recap. After this, share what you plan to work on next. This will show initiative and give you more control over what you actually work on.
You need to do your job well to build a good relationship with your manager. Always be helpful to them by bringing more solutions than problems. Make sure they have visibility to what you’re doing. It’s easy for them to underestimate your work if they don’t know about it.
Leverage Ego Theory
Always give your manager credit, especially in front of those they want to impress. Make them look good through your great work. Everyone will know what your work was and will respect you for attributing credit to them. (Story time: my manager let me present to our site director, Global Controller, and his boss. The presentation went well and was great exposure for me. When the Controller complimented my work after the presentation, I thanked him and immediately shared the credit with my manager who had helped me on the project. She instantly lit up and clearly appreciated the shout out and I looked good for not trying to hog the attention on a group effort.) Always share credit where credit is due and subtly give a bit of extra credit to your boss. They'll know.
Show your desire to learn from them. Share your hunger to improve and ask for their advice/feedback. Take their feedback well, then go out and apply it. Later, demonstrate how you’ve applied it and grown from it. Thank them for it and highlight how their advice on XYZ has impacted your work and helped you tremendously.
Brown nosing and being overly direct will not help you and is awkward for everyone. That said, building your manager's ego and making them feel good is incredibly powerful. The more of an impact they feel they’ve made on you, the more time they will invest in you. Give compliments, show gratefulness sincerely, and they will go to much further lengths to help you.
Keep an open mind on these tactics, not all may work for you. The point of this article is to challenge you to think differently about how to look good in your manager’s eyes and find ways to continuously impress them.
Finally, don’t get too comfortable. View everything as a presentation and reflection of your work. Even once you get closer and start sharing more about your personal lives – don’t rely on your personal connection. It should be the icing on the cake that puts you at the top of their list when thinking of promotions and new opportunities. Your work always comes first. Use these strategies while working on what you’re interested in and you will have an unmatched Edge.