5 Steps to Getting Wise…r than your Manager

Are you smarter than your Manager? Could you do his job with both hands tied behind your back while eating Cheesecake and watching The Dog Whisperer? Chances are you think you can. Most of us at one point or another experience this frustrating inbalance of intellect...

But, I don’t doubt you’re smarter than he is. You’re one smart cookie.

So why is it that when you’re smarter than your manager, you always end up getting PWND? It’s a good question, and I have a sobering answer: if you choose to fight, your manager will always win. Every time.

The difference between a smart person and a wise person is that a smart person knows what to say and a wise person knows whether or not to say it.

You’ve already got the smarts, so here are a few tips to help you get wise…r than your manager:


1. Ask Questions (and stop making statements)

Do you have a great idea? Do you think your plan should be adopted? Are you having trouble getting your manager to listen to you? Do you hear voices inside your head?

Questions provoke thought. Get your manager thinking about the things you want him to think about by asking the right questions. What are the right questions, you ask? Well, first of all I’m glad you asked. They are the questions that will eventually lead him to reach the conclusion that you wanted to state to begin with. Yes, you are helping him see the light! Think of his thoughts as the sheep and you are the shephard. His inferior intellect can be the Valley of Darkness (for my Sammy J fans - Holla.).

EXTRA CREDIT: Draft out the questions you want to ask ahead of time.
EXTRA EXTRA CREDIT: After you draft your questions, rehearse them with a friend or mentor to hone your tone.


2. Provide Options (and get your ideas heard)

Managers love to shoot down ideas. In a way, it’s their job. They’re your company’s Quality Assurance screen. They got promoted to their position because the company trusts them to make quality decisions that weed out stupid ideas and actions. (I’ll let you say it…)

Here’s the trick: Nobody ever thinks that their idea is stupid.

If you want your idea or vision to get through your manager’s stupid-screen, give her ownership by allowing her to customize your plan. You do this by providing her with a series of “multiple choice” options as you develop your deliverable. Setup strategic checkpoints with your manager where you will provide her with more options for moving forward. It’s kinda like customizing a Dell computer, only in this case it’s a “My Idea” computer…

Here’s the secret: Build the most important parts of your idea into each “option” you present to your manager. Change up the details. Let her choose which option is the best for the project. Commend her on knowledge and strategic prowess. Rinse and repeat. This isn't trickery, it's strategy.

PS: Some of you may be worried that this technique may cause the manager to miss something big and that could negatively impact the project… Let me tell you something, if you’re giving your manager options at multiple checkpoints along the way and she still misses something big, that is not your fault.


3. Seek Feedback (always and often)

Of course you are wonderful! We all love to hear that. Nobody likes to hear, “How can a smart guy be so stupid! Now we have to stay up all night to get this presentation done, and it’s your fault!” Whether it’s your fault or not, you can avoid almost all situations like this if you actively seek feedback on your work and workstyle.

Your manager will rarely provide feedback out of the blue (it’s typically rude to give unsolicited feedback). But go ask him for it and see what happens; he will likely be blown away by your level of maturity and commitment to personal growth. Oh yeah, and nine times out of ten this feedback will me much more constructive than the kind you get after you “screw up.”


4. Respond to Feedback (Check yo-self, fool!)

Asking for the feedback is the easier part of the “feedback loop”; actually changing your style is a little more difficult. If you can actually apply the feedback you receive, you are already wiser than 90% of the people in this world. We are all set in our ways, and no matter how much we like to think we are adept to dealing with change, human nature dictates otherwise.

You will inevitably receive more feedback that you disagree with than you agree with. That’s because we all think we’re right and we don’t watch movies of ourselves doing the stupid shit we all do. But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re still doing stupid shit. So, do your best to immediately address the feedback that you agree with, and table the stuff that you think is bologna. If you don’t agree with any of the feedback, challenge yourself to pick the one piece of advice that is as close to edible as possible and take a bite. It may be an acquired taste…

EXTRA CREDIT: Poll your close friends about the pieces of feedback you didn’t agree with and see what they say. If they agree with your manager, you may want to reconsider your disposition.


5. Give Praise (when praise is due)

I’m not suggesting you brownnose or be fake. You should give praise to everyone and anyone if you feel it’s warranted. Specifically, if you learn something from your manager or see her do something you think is exceptional, tell her that and ask her to explain how she got so good at it. She will be flattered and talk your ear off, and you will learn. Hell, you may even make a friend.

Don’t ever forget that you are wonderfully smart and talented. And never, never give up your drive to make a difference. I join you in your ambition to change the world! We just have to remember that it’s not the smarts that will bring about change, it’s the wisdom.

Due Dollars: a new approach to “paying your dues"

Gen Yers don’t work for The Man…

Managers love to inform Gen Yers of the realities of the workplace. My favorite admonition is that I must “pay my dues” before I can make any significant career decisions for myself. I love this because it invokes a response in my head that is so dismissive and humorous, I immediately open up an IM to my friend Beth and tell her about this oldhead preaching bullshit off the company soapbox.

We banter back and forth for a bit, and by the end of our conversation we’ve both built a new wall. A wall between us and them. We are insulating ourselves from the bullshit. We don’t believe in the practice of “paying our dues”, and anyone who tries to convince us otherwise gets a hand to the face and a DO NOT CROSS line. They will talk, but we aren’t listening.


We work for ourselves.

Gen Yers view their relationship with companies as a partnership. We will contribute an uncanny amount of energy to a project that we believe in. But, we want to know the answers to the important questions: What will I learn from this experience? How is this benefiting me? In what way does this repetitive, boring work you just asked me to do provide value to the organization?

Now, imagine if the answer to any one of these questions was, “Sometimes you just have to pay your dues.” To a Gen Yer – hell, to anyone – that is a smack in the face. The above questions show interest, curiosity, and an eagerness to contribute. By answering a question with “pay your dues”, you are dismissing someone’s genuine interest to learn and instead forcing them to accept a fate outside of their control. Couple things: (1) no one likes to not be in control, and (2) no one likes to be dismissed.


“Due Dollars” let us choose when, where, how and why to pay invest our dues.

OK, so we all realize that we’re not going to be the CEO of a huge company the day we graduate undergrad. But chances are that you think you could be at least a VP! I’ve thought it a million times myself: “This work is ridiculously boring and unnecessary. I’m brilliant, and I have nowhere to focus my creative energy right now. Why don’t they outsource this work to some admin or IT guy in India so I can focus on what’s important? I would be awesome as a Sr. Manager or VP, but the only ladder up is on the other end of the trench – and damn is it gonna take a long time to get there!”

The notion of “Due Dollars” is simply a different way of thinking about doing your work. By understanding that we have control over our own “dues”, we feel much more empowered to make decisions – big decisions. Long ago are the days of arbitrarily “paying our dues” whenever our manager decides it’s a good time to give us the “pay your dues” pep-talk. Now, we can control when, where, how and why we pay… no wait, invest our dues.

Every time I invest a Due Dollar, I’m buying one share of experiential knowledge.

I like to think of it this way:

I have – let’s say – 1,000 “Due Dollars” to invest in any experience I want. Now, imagine I get stuck in a job or on a project doing terribly repetitive, boring work. My manager eventually admits that, “the work you’re doing is pretty mind-numbing, but we all have to pay our dues.” (what I hear is “Shut up, know your role, and get crackin on the bitchwork.”) It’s a safe bet that I’ll be holding my Due Dollars close to my hip. Why would I invest in this kind of experience? I’m not gonna give up these valuable Due Dollars for her!

Admittedly, I’m investing some Due Dollars in any work I do (mostly in the beginning, on the “upslope” of the learning curve) because I am inherently gaining experience and knowledge through the work. But I’m getting a very low rate of return for investing my Dues Dollars in this experience. Remember, I’m investing in experiential knowledge with my Due Dollars. How much knowledge am I going to gain from sitting in the same room with the same people everyday editing the same document 168 times?


Managers: ditch the “pay your dues” pitch. Ask questions instead.

Now, let me paint a different picture for you. My manager sits me down a couple weeks into the project and asks me the following five questions:

1. “What are you passionate about?”
2. “What are your career goals?”
3. “What do you hope to learn during your time here?”
4. “How do you learn best?”
5. “How can I help you achieve these learning goals?”

She then relates to me by helping me learn about myself, the project (or job) and my career:

1. “Here is what you’ll be doing over the next three months: ______. Let me explain to you how your work adds meaningful and tangible value to the project/organization: _____.”

2. “Some of the work you’re doing will be a little repetitive and boring – I find that listening to music helps me stay upbeat and focused. Feel free to give it a try!” ;-)

3. “Why don’t we do this: come up with a list of learning goals that you’d like to accomplish during your time here. Send them to me and we’ll review them next week. As long as you promise to work towards them, I promise to help you. The whole team is doing this exercise so that we can help each other work towards our individual goals. My objective is to help you succeed in your career, not just in this job.”

Now, the actual work on this project could be exactly the same as it was on the last project I described, but in this case I have my wallet out on the counter itching to invest my Dues! This is the best deal around! In return for my investment, I understand the impact my work has on the project, I learn how to set and keep goals, I have control over my learning, I gain a great mentor, and I get to listen to my iPod!
What a deal!


Not Quite Yet Managers: Know Your Investment Strategy

Remember, the more Due Dollars you invest, the faster you can gain experiential knowledge. But this isn’t always the case. Just like the stock market, you can make a poor investment.

Think about how some people excel faster than others – the ones that excel seek out the situations that align with their strengths in such a way that they gain the greatest potential return on their Due Dollars investments. In other words, they find their “sweet spot”. But then within that situation, they know how to diversify their portfolio, if you will, by expending large amounts of energy (Dues) in some areas – the areas that count – and very little in others.

This should be the goal for all of us.


Here are some Due Dollars – don’t spend them all in one place!

To help my fellow Gen Yers, I’m giving each one of you 1,000 Due Dollars. Here are the rules:

1. You can invest (not spend) them anywhere you’d like, and on anything
2. You are investing in experiential knowledge
3. Invest wisely – unlike the stock market, each investment opportunity will have different returns for each individual
4. This currency is nontransferable and may only be redeemed for cash only after the last Due Dollar is invested. (Your earning potential skyrockets once your Due Dollar balance reaches 0)
5. The faster you invest it, the faster you realize your ROI. But keep in mind that each opportunity doesn’t have the same rate of return for each individual
6. Look for diamonds in the ruff. A project or task may seem mundane, but many times there is an opportunity for you to do much more interesting work as a supplement to what your manager asked of you – diversify your portfolio!
7. However, get done what needs to get done first! (or you’ll get PWND). If you finish a task early, look for ways to innovate and achieve some of your learning objectives. Oh, and managers always love options… give them some!

The faster you gain the knowledge necessary for you to make moves on your defined career path, the faster you excel towards your career goals. The faster you reach your career goals, the faster you reach your highest earning potential! Now, that’s a lot of power.