ABSTRACT
It took me a while to gure this out, so I misspent some of my career trying to be admired rather than understood and believed. Sound familiar?
I felt like I was putting on a costume every day that didn’t quite t. But it was what I thought people needed to see. I even had some successes in that getup. Looking back, I see that those laurels were won by others, not by me. ey were won by people in the organization who were better understood and in whom others
Pause before you respond. A lot of people who shouldn’t,
answer “yes” right away. e phony at the top is always the last to know he’s not admired by his colleagues. Why? Because when you’re in the Job at the Top, your stature prevents most others from letting you in on how they actually see you. So, you go on with the show, believing that you’re getting away with it while they roll their eyes and talk about you around the watercooler.
