Manage Up

Todd Henry [00:00:02]:
In the depths of the 2009 recession, a San Francisco based publishing company called Chronicle Books made a decision that seemed counterintuitive at the time. While other publishers were slashing budgets and playing it safe with celebrity memoirs, Chronicle doubled down on innovative design and unconventional titles. They invested heavily in creating beautiful, tactile books that celebrated the physical reading experience. Just as ebooks were supposed to be spelling the end of print. It was a bold move. It was one that was counter to the chaotic marketplace environment. Well, the gamble paid off. Chronicles distinctive aesthetic and commitment to quality helped them not only survive, but thrive.

Todd Henry [00:00:42]:
Expanding from a regional publisher to a globally recognized brand. You've probably bought one of their books. As they later reflected, when everyone else in the industry was retreating, they found their voice. The ability to stay focused and creative during chaotic times isn't just a nice to have skill. It's an essential for survival and for growth. So last week I sent an email to my mailing list called how to Thrive in Uncertain Times. And by the way, if you want to subscribe to that mailing list, you can do so@bravefocusedbrilliant.com that's the name of the email. Brave Focused Brilliant.

Todd Henry [00:01:17]:
If you want to get this email every week. But I want to share what I advice that I shared with my email list because I think it's appropriate for all of us. Right now we're going through uncertain times, chaotic times for sure. How do we ensure that we not only stay focused, but actually maybe even leverage these chaotic times to our benefit? So I want to give you a couple pieces of advice and then we're going to dive into an interview with Melody Wilding about her book, which is about how to manage up. How do you manage your manager? Speak up the power within your organization. All right, so here are the principles for thriving in uncertain times. First, build your chaos proof rituals. Creating predictable routines is essential when the world feels chaotic.

Todd Henry [00:02:00]:
This is something probably many of us discovered during COVID right? When everything sort of fell apart. We needed routine in order to remain stable. By establishing consistent daily practices, you build a reliable foundation that nourishes your creativity and your mental clarity. Now, these aren't just habits. I'm not just talking about like have a morning routine, right? Or have an evening routine. What I'm saying is build intentional practices that create space for your best thinking and for your creative work to emerge. Don't just swim in the chaos. Invest time, energy, space, focus for things that are going to create value.

Todd Henry [00:02:35]:
So design your day around these creative rituals. Design specific hours to do deep work, as Cal Newport calls it, when your energy is highest. Protect time for reading, for reflection. Spend time synthesizing alone with your thoughts. Close each day with a structured wind down routine that helps you process ideas and prepare for tomorrow. This is something I've been doing for a while. In notion. I have a series of questions I answer at the end of the day that sort of helps me.

Todd Henry [00:03:01]:
It's in a template, but it helps me wind down my day. These intentional bookends transform your day into a creativity supporting framework, signaling to your brain when to generate ideas and when to rest and when to recharge. And they prevent great ideas from getting lost in the chaos. So what are your chaos proof rituals? That's the first thing. Number two, ask questions that transform chaos into wonder. In times of uncertainty, our instinct might be to search for immediate answers. Instead, develop the skill of asking better questions. What opportunities exist right now that other people may not see? What probably false assumptions are you making right now? What are the ghost rules that you're living by? What would this look like if it were easy? This is one of my favorite questions I picked up from Tim Ferriss, actually.

Todd Henry [00:03:49]:
What would this look like if it were easy? The quality of our questions determines the quality of our thinking. Rather than fixating on why is this happening to me or why is everything so chaotic? What can I learn from this is a much better question. Or how can I use this situation to create something meaningful? So what questions do you know you need to ask, but you've been avoiding that. That's number two. Number three, Zag and think countercyclical. All right. During the 2000.com crash, Amazon stock plummeted 90%, and many analysts predicted the company's demise 90%. I mean, think about that.

Todd Henry [00:04:27]:
Your company today is worth 10% what it was worth yesterday. Instead of retreating, which is what many leaders would do, Jeff Bezos doubled down on innovation and expansion. He maintained rigorous operational focus while simultaneously launching Amazon Marketplace and developing new categories. So this period of extreme uncertainty became the foundation for Amazon's transformation from a bookstore, an online bookstore, into a global technology leader. When everyone else is panicking, look for opportunities. When the crowd rushes in one direction, consider what they might be missing. This isn't contrarianism for its own sake. It's about maintaining independent thought when groupthink is at its strongest.

Todd Henry [00:05:09]:
So during market downturns, the best investment investors often increase their positions. Right? During industry upheaval, the most innovative companies double down on R and D instead of slashing it. Look for the spaces others are leaving vacant and consider how you might fill them. So where are you following the herd? How might you act? Countercyclically? Number four. Make solitude your secret weapon. So in chaos, the temptation is to stay constantly connected, monitoring every twist and turn right. To get distracted by the news and all of the the noise swirling around you. Instead, schedule substantial periods of solitude.

Todd Henry [00:05:48]:
This isn't just about avoiding distractions. It's about creating the mental space necessary for deep thinking and creative breakthrough. So make time for long walks without podcasts, without, you know, radio, without phones, without anything. Just take long walks alone by yourself. Let your mind wander and make unexpected connections. Some of the best ideas emerge when we stop actively pursuing them and and we allow our subconscious mind to take the lead. So here's the next question. When will you get alone with your thoughts? Okay, so make solitude your secret weapon.

Todd Henry [00:06:21]:
Number five. And this is, I think, the most important, especially for leaders. Follow your North Star through rough seas. So when everything is in flux, your core values become your compass. Values aren't just nice sounding principles. They're decision making tools to help you navigate complexity. What truly matters to you? What won't you compromise? Regardless of circumstances? Instead of reacting to every new development, let your values guide your response. This might mean passing on opportunities that don't align with your principles or taking stands that others don't understand.

Todd Henry [00:06:55]:
Your values, properly understood and consistently applied, will lead to decisions that can be. Your values, properly understood and consistently applied, will lead to decisions that you can be proud of for a long time, a long time after the current crisis passes. So the fifth question is, what are your core values? Where will you draw your battle lines? What is guiding you through the uncertainty? Remember, uncertainty, while uncomfortable, is often the fertile ground from which brilliant work springs. Some of the most significant technological breakthroughs and creative works emerge during periods of great upheaval. Your task isn't to wait for stability to return. It's to learn to dance with the chaos while maintaining your focus and your creative drive. So don't just survive uncertain times. Don't use them as catalysts for your best work.

Todd Henry [00:07:46]:
What endures are the work we create and the values that we uphold during these times of uncertainty. So build your chaos proof rituals. Ask questions that transform chaos into wonder. Zag and think countercyclical. Make solitude your secret weapon and follow your North Star through rough seas. These are the five things I encourage you to do right now as things are uncertain again. If you'd like to get articles like this, then visit bravefocusbrilliant.com I send them to my email list once a week. All right, when we come back in just a minute, we're going to talk with Melody Wilding about her new book, which is called Managing Up.

Todd Henry [00:08:22]:
It's about how to ensure that you're leading your leader. We'll be right back.

Melody Wilding [00:08:41]:
And what I would hear from people was, okay, I, I feel, I feel more secure in myself. But all of this breaks down when I have to deal with people who are in power.

Todd Henry [00:08:51]:
That's Melody Wilding, author of the new book Managing Up. How to get what you need from the people in charge.

Melody Wilding [00:08:57]:
And if you work in an organization, or even if you are working as a freelancer or a contractor, you may feel at the whim of everything that's happening around you. The reorg, the layoff, the leadership change, the shifting priorities that were one thing yesterday and a different thing today. And all of that can leave you second guessing your standing, the value you're bringing to the organization, all the way down to the micro interactions you have. Why did that person use a period instead of an exclamation point today? And what I realized is that so much of that overthinking, even sometimes the people pleasing, it really comes down to missing this skill set of managing up. How do we influence, persuade, communicate in a way that shapes the relationships and the outcomes we get around us?

Todd Henry [00:09:53]:
So many people feel that uncertainty when it comes to our work environment, especially those who are in management positions. You see, most people think that leadership is about being on top, but it's not. Leadership is about being in the middle. Everyone in leadership has people following them, but they also have to follow someone else. Even the most senior people you can think of are in the middle. CEOs have to report to the board. The board has to report to shareholders. Every leader inside of a company is in some way in the middle.

Todd Henry [00:10:27]:
Which raises an interesting question. Why would anyone want to do that? I'm being serious. Leadership is a tremendous responsibility and it's one that's fraught with pitfalls and third rails. However, if you can learn to navigate these dynamics well, you will be among the few who develop real influence within your organization. Melody says that it all begins with learning how to have a few strategic conversations. In fact, she says that so much of learning to manage up and down is about learning how to lead the right conversations at the right time.

Melody Wilding [00:10:59]:
A few reasons for the conversations framework, first is that I think when many people are told that you need to get better at managing up, we don't know what that means, we don't know how to translate that into action or if you are giving any directive around it. It's usually some one liner about be proactive or understand what the priorities are. And that only takes you so far, right? You may know what that means in theory, but again, applying that in practice, especially when things get complex, it just, it doesn't work. And so the conversations framework really came about to give people a methodology of how do you build this skill set? Starting from the conversations that are the most foundational, that start building trust and rapport, all the way to some of the more advanced, maybe high stakes one. So you can orient yourself to where am I in this process, what do I need to focus on and in what order? That order of operations is, is important. But managing up is all about being in relation to other people. And yes, we are talking primarily about your relationship with your direct supervisor, your boss. But today your boss is not just one single person.

Melody Wilding [00:12:12]:
There are so many matrix environments or you may have to manage up to a project lead or your skip level. For example, there's a whole ecosystem of people who affect your career, not just your manager. So we need to think about broadening our idea of what it means to manage up. And I've just found the conversations make it much more graspable and learnable for people.

Todd Henry [00:12:39]:
Melody says that one of the most important places for creative professionals to start is with seeking alignment with your manager.

Melody Wilding [00:12:47]:
Well, let's also talk about why is that the first conversation? And as I said, these are sequenced in a specific order and we have to start alignment to know that first and foremost that we're doing the highest value work because there's nothing worse than toiling away on something or only to bring it back to your manager. And they say this isn't what I wanted at all. Or actually we're going a different direction and you feel frustrated and resentful and it's just not good for anybody. So we start with alignment for that reason and also because it's one of the easier conversations to have. It's so much more about listening, observation, asking good questions rather than asserting yourself or the high stakes that come with some of the later conversations. And so to that point, so much of this is about getting in your leader's head because everyone is so busy and your manager may not have time or they may not have the skill or aptitude to articulate themselves very well on their own. And so we have to get skilled at asking good questions that actually get at what are some of the unspoken or hidden or underlying priorities, pressures that this person is facing? Because that helps us inform what am I prioritizing for myself and then also contextualizing their behavior. If you notice, why does my boss seem to really clamp down on me and want a lot of extra oversight on this certain project? Well, if you understand that that's what their manager is really concerned about, then you start to take things less personally as well and put things into context.

Todd Henry [00:14:26]:
There are a few questions that Melody suggests asking in order to seek alignment.

Melody Wilding [00:14:29]:
I'm thinking about how to set us up for success for the rest of the year. And to do that I'd really like to understand what's top of mind for you. What are the trends you're looking at? One of my favorite questions I alluded to a moment ago is that idea of what are the metrics or the goals that you discuss with your own boss? Because that really does help you get under the hood of some of the things that may drive their bonus their evaluation that would be very helpful for you to know.

Todd Henry [00:14:56]:
Melody also says that often the alignment conversation closely intertwines with another conversation that she suggests that we have, which is the feedback conversation.

Melody Wilding [00:15:06]:
I'm always talking about this with my folks who are in creative roles that. And this is where the conversations start to interlock, where alignment starts to intersect with the feedback conversation. Where if you are having a managing up conversation, let's say you have to bring your boss a campaign, for example, you might frame it by saying, you know, at this stage right now we're interested in the messaging. Does that feel right? Put aside the colors, we'll be able to get to that, the color scheme in a few weeks. But you have to guide and set the frame of the level of feedback you want. And I often find we don't do that. We leave it too open ended and say, well, what do you think? And then people are, we feel as if they're nitpicking something that we thought we were past. We thought we made that decision weeks ago.

Melody Wilding [00:15:54]:
And so that's a great point about making sure are you operating at the same altitude in what you're asking for? If alignment is what we are working on and making sure we're on the same page, rowing in the same direction about that styles is how do we do it? How do we do it more smoothly with less stress for both sides? And it's really about communication and work styles. And I know you talk a lot about this as well and really understanding these are My preferences in terms of how I learn, how I process information, make decisions, my work hours, all of those sorts of things. These are understanding your own, but also being able to decode someone else's. And this is where sometimes people hear managing up and they say, well, why should I have to take on the emotional labor of babysitting my boss or being a chameleon for whatever they want? And that is not at all what I'm saying. I am saying that we all have our natural default style, but if we want to work effectively with other people, I think the biggest hallmark of professional maturity is having that adaptability, that flexibility in the moment to be selective and strategic about. This is how I need to adapt my message or change the framing or present my information differently so that it actually gets through to the other person, because that's when communication actually happens.

Todd Henry [00:17:23]:
Melody also says that it's important that we understand how to deliver feedback as well as how to receive feedback, in order to make sure that we stay aligned, that we're working together and not against each other as part of the process.

Melody Wilding [00:17:35]:
Well, let's talk about the ABCs of feedback. Often we focus on. And the mistake we make is we focus on leading with our assumption. That's A. And our assumption is usually some negative label about the other person's behavior. You're micromanaging me. You can't make a decision. You're favoriting this person.

Melody Wilding [00:17:54]:
It's usually a judgment about the other person, and we lead with that. Instead, what we want to do is focus on the B and the C. B is for behavior. What is the observable action that that person is doing that leads you to label them as a micromanager? For example, maybe they're asking for oversight on every single slide before it goes out to a client. That's what you should be bringing up in the feedback conversation, because that is something someone can change, and it's. It feels more circumstantial rather than inherent to the person. Right. Less of a personal attack.

Melody Wilding [00:18:30]:
So focus on the behavior. And you also need to come with your circle, which is the change you want to see. And this is important because it's part of you driving the outcome you want. So if you can say to someone, I've noticed that with this client project that the level of oversight you wanted has shifted or has evolved over the last couple of weeks. Has anything changed? You used the phrase earlier, helped me understand one of my favorite phrases. And you might say, what would be really helpful for me is if we could sit down I can bring you a list of the clients I'm working on. I would love to understand at this point how involved you want to be with each so I know and I can calibrate my turnaround time to get you feedback on each of these right? So you are getting what you want. You're directing the outcome.

Melody Wilding [00:19:19]:
It's so much more solution oriented and forward looking than you're micromanaging me. Get off my back.

Todd Henry [00:19:30]:
Melody Wilding's new book is called Managing up and it's available now wherever books are sold. So we began this episode by talking about how to thrive in uncertain times. And certainly one of the most important ways to do that is to learn how to lead within your organization to create some stability in the midst of the uncertainty. I hope that you and your peers and your leaders can find stability, build practices that help you find clarity in the midst of uncertainty. If you'd like full interviews, including with Melody Wilding, in which we go into a few more strategies for managing up, daily episodes, Q and A sessions, courses, and much more, including the full archives dating back years and years, you can do so in the Daily Creative app. At Daily Creative, my name is Todd Henry. You can find my books, all seven of them, as well as my speaking and my other work@toddhenry.com until next time. May you be brave, focused and brilliant.