Wednesday Wisdom: Gunnin' for the Boss

Dear Claudia,

I’ll cut to the chase: my boss is an idiot, and I want his job. I think I can do it better than him, faster, and probably a whole lot cheaper for the company. The CEO will be spending some time in our office over the next month, and I’d like to use the opportunity to tell him my suggestions to improve our department performance. I think I can make a good business case to replace him; do you think it’s a good idea, or job suicide?

Wannabe

Dear Wannabe,

Oh boyoboyo. I don’t even know where to start with this, my friend: your ego, your judgment, or the politics of an office where employees plot to take each other out.

Don’t think for a second that what goes around won’t come right back to find you. Think about it this way: you’ve got a 50/50 chance of being a hero or a zero by implementing your plan of action - and neither option has a really great outcome. Maybe you get fired on the spot, and the fate you’re wishing for your boss becomes yours instead. Or, maybe you get your boss fired, but then bigger problems await you down the path: the honeymoon will be over soon, and others will have learned from your example that it’s ok to go gunning for the boss’s job. So you’ll have to perform well and watch your back for the arsenal of weapons coming up the hill behind you. And you’ve no one but yourself to blame for those rules of engagement.

Personally, I like Google’s motto for playing together in the sandbox: don’t be evil. If being a manager is important to you, go interview for a job of your own. Earn it, don’t steal it. And if you want to stay with your current employer, talk with the right people there about your goals and let them help you make it happen. But keep your integrity where it belongs, my friend. It doesn’t look attractive around your ankles.

**

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Claudia Faust on February 18, 2009 at 7:19am

Hi Rayanne! As usual, great advice, and straight to the heart of it. Thanks for dropping in today!

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on February 18, 2009 at 7:36am

Priceless: "...you’ve got a 50/50 chance of being a hero or a zero..."
Did you think that up? I've never heard it!

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Permalink Reply by Claudia Faust on February 18, 2009 at 11:33am

Nah,I owe that one to one of my old bosses!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on February 18, 2009 at 12:31pm

Another way is to suggest a project whose success will speak highly of your ego/skill and his/her purported idiocy. Manage the project - best if a hot point of the CEO - to win, winning being defined as an event that highlights your skills to the organization.

Then make the case for a new position that parallels your current boss.

Sorry but your not a monster truck and you aren't going to run over him/her without collateral damage.