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Getty Images Leader’s Bookshelf

Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss
So You Both Win
by Michael Useem

Michael Useem, professor of management and director brought together conflicting priorities by keeping every-
of the Center for Leadership and Change Management one informed of what he was recommending to all the
at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, others. In addition, Pace was willing to challenge his
puts a new twist on leadership advice by stressing that superiors when their proposals or policies were at odds
leadership has to come from below as well as from with his own informed judgment. Lesson: Total hon-
above. “We have all known a supervisor or president, a esty and frequent face-to-face discussions are a must
coach or minister, an officer or director who should have for communicating what the boss needs to know and
made a difference but did not,” Useem writes. “We pri- maintaining the trust that is essential to good leader-
vately complained, we may even have quit, but we rarely follower relationships.
stepped forward to help them transcend their limitations • Eight climbers died on Mount Everest in May of 1996
and be the best boss they could be.” In Leading Up: How partly because the mountaineers failed to question
to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win, Useem offers les- their guides’ flawed and inconsistent instructions and
sons in leading up by examining both positive and nega- decisions. The surviving climbers admit they might
tive real-life examples. have protected themselves and others from harm if
they had been willing to rise up when their leaders
EXAMPLES OF LEADING UP were faltering. Lesson: Although respect for and con-
Here are a few real life successes and failures that bring fidence in your superior is vital, good followers know
the concept of upward leadership to life: that nobody is invincible or faultless. “Biding your
time and deferring to authority serves no one well
• Civil War commanders on both the Union and
when it’s clear that the boss would fare far better
Confederate sides openly disrespected and often
with your upward help.”
misinformed their commanders-in-chief, which con-
tributed to tragic consequences for both sides. For
example, Union General George McClellan didn’t even ANSWERING THE CALL TO UPWARD LEADERSHIP
try to disguise his contempt for President Abraham Useem uses heroic accounts and moments of crisis as
Lincoln and eventually alienated every member of examples because he believes they are the best teach-
Lincoln’s cabinet. Two days before the Peninsula ers. However, he points out that opportunities for leading
Campaign in mid-spring 1862, Lincoln relieved up come to all of us in many different situations. Without
McClellan from his position. Lesson: Disdain and effective followers who act as upward leaders to offer
contempt for your superior will be returned in kind. information, guidance, insight, and initiative—and to chal-
To build your superior’s confidence in you, give your lenge their superiors when necessary—leadership is an
confidence to the leader. incomplete and impotent exercise.
• U.S. Marine Corps general Peter Pace had to report to
Leading Up: How To Lead Your Boss So You Both Win, by Michael
six bosses with varying agendas, but he successfully Useem, is published by Crown Business.

View the Leader Realistically
Unrealistic follower expectations is one of the biggest barriers to effective leader–
follower relationships. To view leaders realistically means to give up idealized
images of them. Understanding that leaders are fallible and will make many
mistakes leads to acceptance and the potential for an equitable relationship. The
way in which a follower perceives his or her boss is the foundation of their
relationship. It helps to view leaders as they really are, not as followers think
they should be. 45

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