Sixteen (16) ways to "manage up" with your CEO & the Board 

Your manager, CEO, or board chair (and their peer team) will have a high degree of influence over your mandate, including what projects you land, what what promotions you win, and what board committees you serve. 
 

Over the last several months, I’ve noted a trend with executives and their boards. They include disagreements on the business’s direction, who should be promoted to CEO, and what products to launch or retire.
 

The question is positioned in several ways, but essentially, it sounds like, “How do I manage up to my boss?”

I have crafted 16 ways to deepen your relationship with your manager, all based on my experience in corporations and working with thousands of global business leaders. 

Safety in high-risk industries 

The open pit mine disaster in China is on my mind. A great friend to Westgate, Stephen Pitt-Walker, (a global authority on corporate governance) and I had a conversation yesterday about the event. 

My thoughts and prayers are with the miners and their families. Here in Nova Scotia (CANADA) we are very familiar with mining disasters (Springhill, Westray and others). 

Stephen happened to ask me about my experience in occupational safety and I shared my earlier career experience in an integrated power company where human safety was our top priority (& one of our top KPIs). 

In that role, I created targets as well as identified leading and lagging indicators for one of the corporation’s divisions. My boss at the time was the VP of Transmission and Distribution. He trusted me with much more than was in my job description. 

I adored my work in this field, and at the time became known as the safety-stat person in the company. We needed to report to the board and the Canadian Electricity Association on divisional stats which I rolled up for the corporate secretary on behalf of my boss who eventually became the most successful CEO in the 120-year-old history of the company. I was very proud of the work I did. I learned so much from him. 

It was rewarding to feel that in some way I helped our workforce return home to their families each night safe and sound. 

We all have a family. 

I also worked closely with the company loss control consultants to develop safety training for our workforce which was highly unionized. I learned a lot about union-management relations in that role. 

Safety was one of our top KPIs for the company, of course, so it was rewarding to be able to build my authority in this discipline. Those safety practices live with me to this day. 

The tragedy in Mongolia is a stark reminder that our fiduciary duty also lies with our employees and their families. 

Thank you, Stephen, for your interest and your humanity. 

Do you struggle to write the best message when emailing executive recruiters and board chairs?

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Ruby-Muppet's update

We rescued a homeless puppy two months ago from the island of Grand Turk. When we found her, she weighed 10 lbs. She is now 26.5 lbs. and has brought such joy into our home. 

Her antics keep us on our toes and make us giggle. Here she is next to my late Mom's most prized vase (behind her). 

She climbed onto a side table to enjoy the warm sun on a Saturday morning (it's typically below freezing here these days) while sniffing out our family antiques.

The vase was rescued without any damage. Mom would be relieved. 

Have an optimized week ahead!

Maureen Farmer is a CEO advisor and personal branding strategist for next-level executives, investors, and board nominees. 

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Westgate Executive Branding and Career Consulting Inc. would like to acknowledge that we are located in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. We are all Treaty people.