Final Post

The reading that I found most interesting and useful was “How to manage your boss”. The topic of “managing up” was really interesting and definitely something I have observed but never paid close attention to or attempted to do myself. The reading came at a crucial time for me because I just got a new boss. My new boss is completely different from my other boss and I wasn’t quite sure how to “manage” the relationship. My old boss was very detail oriented and put everything into lengthy emails, as her primary form of communication. My new boss, is a male, and sis much more concerned with “big picture” results / problems and less concerned with whether I had a bad day or not. He also prefers to communicate in person, and constantly asks me to “remind him later” about issues I bring up. This was an adjustment for me and I was reluctant to have to adapt to his style. However the article showed me this is critical to having a successful relationship with your boss, not just for me personally but for the organization as a whole to function efficiently. I was able to point out the differences in his style and personality and adapt my behavior accordingly.

The book I found the most interesting was “Drive” by Daniel Pink. This book really spoke to me about motivation and made me realize that it is important to find out what motivates you and why. I still am trying to figure out “my sentence” and I think I am getting there. The book (presentation) also made me start to think that it is important to make every day count. To continually improve, and think about your actions and the how and why of what you do. I do feel like I get stuck in going through the motions, just waiting to get off work and waiting for the weekends to come. I am hoping to purchase and read the book after this semester because I felt the material is valuable. Also in a previous posting I mentioned that I am extrinsically motivated, and I would like to work on my intrinsic motivation. This book seems like it will help me to do that.

One book that I have read that I think is really important, but it may not be appropriate for the class as a whole since it is for women, is “Nice Girls Don’t get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make to Sabotage Their Careers”. This book definitely relates to our leadership class particularly for women in “observing” yourself and how you act, dress, talk; overall impression management. The author makes the argument that women engage in their own self-defeating behavior that prevents them from moving ahead at work. For example; smiling too much, being overly apologetic, taking on additional tasks all the time. The author discusses how women should act in meetings (power positions etc.) and even gets down to personal appearance: dress, too much makeup, not enough make-up , too much flashy jewelry, age-appropriate hairstyles. This book was really important for me because the author talks about how we are raised to be “nice girls” and that acting too “nice” all the time at work and engaging in demeaning behavior gives the impression that you are not a good fit for higher positions. The author lists in 101 mistakes and even though most women do not engage in all of them I think that a lot of women, including myself, make at least about 1/3 of the mistakes at some point or another. It is a great book with valuable insight and I recommend it to all my friends.