Never, ever, unless you intend to leave quickly and you already have an offer aligned, don't do anything that would make your boss feel less competent. I have never had a boss with a more inflated ego in any of the companies I have worked for so far. If you are not capable of making your manager feel proud and competent, and not threatening his ego by showing that you may be more knowledgeable than him in some matters - EM is not for you.
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Tell the true.
Not helping United Way.
It's like dancing. The man leads, but his focus is not on himself but to make the woman look great on the dance floor. Even when she stumbles.
Click on those fake phishing attack email links… That will get you recognized very fast.
If my manager (2 levels up) continues to mention his love of JC every time in our group get-togethers, I'm scared I'm going to say something.
That could get me in trouble.
Don't split charges
I had a Department Manager that was so intimidated by my superior knowledge of of subject matter that other Department Managers warned me and helped me get transferred out from under him. He apparently dropped me the maximum amount in the ranking session and I was told that my career could not survive another ranking cycle under him.
That sh!thead still works for EM. Need a system to eliminate id--ts like him.
Fastest way to get in trouble is to bang the boss or the hot secretary without wearing your PPE (knee pads, etc...)
I just seeing the picture in my head how big your knee pads were at that time.<
Prehaps knee pads are needed in your world. That is sad. I never needed knee pads. What I needed was to develop was a set of operational field skills that would be valued by EM, my super and those I worked with. Once those skills were in place (and maintained) I became a ‘must have’ front line field engineer who was always in demand for many years. It was not easy acquiring those operational skills but I once did it, it paid off in so many ways. My knees aren’t that good anyway, ha!
Anyone needing knee pads (and it does exist) needs to move on, find other work. It’s not worth it; besides, everyone working with you knows you are a knee pad sl-t which is not good.
Good luck
Some of the posts in this thread just propagate the culture problem at this company.
Either your manager understands that her/she isn’t supposed to know more than you, and seeks your opinion. This is healthy. Or your manager DOES know more than you and acts as a mentor. This is also healthy, but not often seen in this company.
Or your manager is delusional, a bad boss or catering upward. I will take a little career risk to challenge some of this. We shouldn’t blindly poor managers or bad decisions just because it helps our career. That is not good for the company or the shareholder. It will just get bad behaviors promoted higher in the organization.
@OP+1iYm6VPf
I hear you. It’s not about the competency as much as it is about the behavior. I don’t expect my boss to know more than me. But a true leader would listen his/her people and not pretend to more than the experts.
I had a similar situation with a boss a few years ago. Worst boss I ever had. Knows very little about the field he was managing but operated with a know it all attitude. He didn’t care if his ideas would damage business as long as he is right. Many people knows about his behaviors and tactics, but no one wants to expose him. I made the mistake of doing my job well and getting recognition. I didn’t plan on upstaging him but I could tell he didn’t like it. Soon after, I was suddenly moved to another assignment and my ranking suffered.
Perhaps the problem with this company is that we continue to support and elevate those who do not deserve to lead. We sell our integrity hoping that these manipulators will take us with them on their ride up.
Answering the comment below. Never try to outrank, just try to be competent in your assignments, but in the way you are explaining how you did it during 35 years. I just seeing the picture in my head how big your knee pads were at that time.
OP, although I appreciate your point, I have a slightly different point of view. As an engineer, I always knew more than the many EM supervisors I had through the years. With respect to my areas of expertise, I was expected to know more than my supervisor and make him (her) look good. This served me well; as one project would end, and teams were reformed for the next project, I was asked for by other supervisors who wanted me on their team. This approach kept me employed with EM for many productive fruitful years. I never felt the need to upstage my supervisor even when I thought they were really stup!d (some were, most weren’t) . I never cared that my supervisor took credit as long as the $ kept rolling in. I actually felt like I ran a business within EM offering my services. Thankfully, my skill sets were always in demand during my 35 years working as an engineer. It was a good run.