When You're Smarter Than Your Boss

The really wise worker knows how to make the boss look good and lend a hand strategically.

By Judith Sills, published on May 01, 2006 - last reviewed on July 27, 2009

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  1. Never ever ever gossip about your dopey, incompetent, limited dullard of a supervisor.
  2. Make yourself useful to your boss by easing some of her burden. Identify her weaknesses, match them to your strengths and see where you can help.
  3. Leverage these extra contributions by asking for a tiny share of the public credit. Ask to do a small segment of his presentation, for the sake of your experience. Offer to lead the discussion of one agenda item, since you did all the analysis on the topic. Get the word on you out there.
  4. Identify and publicly compliment your boss on her strengths. This is not sucking up. This is creating an environment that makes it more natural for her to do the same for you: "George is so fast, he'll get that report finished in an hour. It would take most people here a week."
  5. Watch your vocabulary. Mr. Smarty has a way of needing to drop big words or fancy references. Interpersonally intelligent people use a light touch.
  6. Give your boss a menu of ways to compensate you for your extra effort. "Wouldn't it be great if we..." "I'd like to be included in the next..."
Tags: accurate observation, cognitive abilities, core values, gates bill, hey mr, imperialism, inaccuracies, intellectual strengths, kinks, larry ellison, leaks, martha stewart, parking space, ronald reagan, smarty, space assignments, tricky task

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