Read about all this and more in this week’s top five most-clicked links in SmartBrief on Leadership:

• How Hell Week taught a Navy Seal the meaning of leadership
• 6 traits of successful innovation leaders
• Good bosses make everything seem simple, says Novartis CEO
• Discarded bottles turn beach into tourist magnet
• Your workers are always watching you

Image credit: narvikk, via iStockphoto

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• He credited his mom for fostering his independent streak, sharing a story about her dropping him off about a mile from their destination and forcing him to find his way.
• He admitted that luck has been a factor in his success — indeed, his physical survival in some cases — but not the only one. He considers his inquisitiveness and desire to improve people’s lives essential. “I don’t think there’s any reason to start a business unless you’re going to change the world.”
• If you want to attract great people to work for you, you have to actively make a job attractive. He cited his airline as an example, noting that if you get the details right, the staff will be proud and cheerful to work there. “It doesn’t cost that much extra to make your product sing and dance.”

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The vast majority of employees in the workplace today are not getting enough direction and support from their bosses,  research conducted by my firm suggests.

“Undermanagement” is very bad for the bottom line of any organization, but our research shows that it is also very bad for employees. Undermanaged employees typically earn less and have less flexibility in their work conditions.

What can employees do if they are being undermanaged? After all, they cannot exactly force their managers to manage them. Can employees turn the tables and start managing their bosses? If so, then how?

Employees need practical tactics that work in the real world. And they need to avoid falling into a few common traps:

• Dismissing your boss as incompetent or a bully. This approach but fails to acknowledge that unless an employee has been managing his boss closely, then he doesn’t really know if he is dealing with an incompetent manager or a bully.

• Catering to your boss so as to follow her “up the ladder.” This approach is stuck in the outmoded view that supervisory relationships are simple, fixed, long-term and hierarchical. Most supervisory relationships today are often complex, shifting, short-term and transactional, so employees need to be prepared to adapt to the many bosses they are likely to have over time.

• Manipulating the boss to meet your personal needs. Playing the boss to squeeze out as much benefit for one’s self as one possibly can in exchange for the least effort on the employee’s own part is self-serving, deceptive, and dishonorable. When employees constantly take advantage of the boss, they quickly find themselves in dead-end relationships.

• “Partnering” with your boss. This approach fails to deal with the importance of the power differential in a “boss-employee” relationship. A boss is a boss because he or she has authority, influence, and control of resources that directly affect the employee.

Our research shows that to get the guidance and direction they need, employees must do a great deal of slow, steady, methodical work to build build and maintain an ongoing dialogue about their work with every boss. That is, employees need to get really good at managing their bosses.

Here are four basics that every employee absolutely must take responsibility for getting from your boss:

• Clearly spelled out and reasonable expectations, including specific guidelines and a concrete timetable.

• The skills, tools, and resources necessary to meet those expectations or an acknowledgement that you are being asked to meet those expectations without them.

• Accurate and honest feedback about your performance, as well as course-correcting direction when necessary.

• Fair recognition and rewards in exchange for your performance.

Image credit, iofoto, via iStock

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I’m not a proponent of that extreme philosophy, but I can’t resist a good controversy, so I put the story in the May 12 issue of NAWBO SmartBrief and posed a reader poll question related to it. The results were a big surprise to me:

How much of a role do you think appearance really plays in business success?

• 60.56%  — A big one; people need to be good looking and physically fit
• 38.03% — A small one; people need to dress and groom themselves to look their best
• 1.41% — None; people can succeed looking any way they like

They weren’t quite as much of a surprise to Deborah Shane, who had me as a guest on her BlogTalkRadio show Monday.

Are you surprised by these poll results? How would you answer, and why?

Image credit: Neustockimages, via iStockphoto

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At “Take the next leap in your career,” Jason spoke briefly about how workers often undermine themselves at work — and how they can stop. Mark Stelzner shared a few stories about the work of JobAngels, a grass-roots, nonprofit movement dedicated to helping people get back to work, one person at a time.

SmartBrief introduced several new tools designed to can help ambitious professionals make the most of their potential, including the new SmartBrief on Your Career and our upgraded job boards.

See a short clip of what Jason had to say.

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My co-authors and I have long observed people’s fear of holding crucial conversations. The reality is that when it comes to talking about high-stakes, emotional or uncomfortable issues, most people run the other way because experience tells them the conversation will end badly.

Our latest poll confirms that when it comes to speaking up at work, most people will do whatever it takes to avoid scary conversations with their boss, co-workers, and direct reports.

According to the study, 70 percent of employees are currently facing a scary conversation at work and yet, 34 percent put off holding that conversation for at least a month by avoiding their colleagues. For example, one respondent hurried into the women’s bathroom to avoid the person with whom she needed to hold a scary conversation — to her surprise, he followed her in there! Worse still, nearly one in four people have put off holding a scary conversation for more than a year.

Unfortunately, for the timid, the skills to speak up to anyone about anything aren’t just nice to have, they’re necessary to be successful. That’s because our research shows the select few who know how to speak up candidly and respectfully — no matter the topic — are viewed as top performers in their organization.

Here are 6 tips to help you stop avoiding and start holding crucial conversations about bad behavior.

• Talk face-to-face and in private. Don’t chicken out by reverting to e-mail or phone. While the distance may help you pony up to the conversation, it will complicate the message for the other person, who cannot read your body language, facial expressions or emotional queues.

• Assume the best of others. Perhaps he or she is unaware of what they’re doing. This positive attitude helps you enter the conversation as a curious friend who would like to solve a problem rather than an angry co-worker who wants to fix the other person (leading to defensiveness and negative feedback).

• Use tentative language. Avoid your tendency to tear into the other person or dance around the subject. Begin by tentatively describing the problem with phrases such as, “I’m not sure you’re intending this . . .” or “I’m not even sure you’re aware. . .”

• Share facts not conclusions. Never, ever start with your nasty conclusions: “You’re out to make me look bad!”, “You’re insensitive and uncaring!” Not only are your conclusions unscientific and possibly wrong, but they’re almost guaranteed to create defensiveness. So say something like, “In the last two meetings you laughed at my suggestion. I expect people to disagree, but laughing?”

• Ask for their view. Next, ask if he or she sees the problem differently. You’re now poised to have a healthy conversation about bad behavior.

• Use equal treatment. These skills apply to bosses and co-workers alike. Bosses don’t deserve special treatment. Everyone needs to be treated like a reasonable, rational person who deserves your respect.

Image credit, killerb10, via iStock

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Last week’s poll question: How important do you think it is to be likable at work?

• Somewhat important 49%
• Very important 46%
• It doesn’t matter either way 4%
• It’s actually a hindrance 1%

“The response was overwhelming: Being likable at work is important. Nobody likes to share their space with a jerk and considering the overwhelming response, one has to wonder if being likable helps your career. At the least, it will help reduce barriers as you move forward in your career.” — Lance Haun

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Image credit, DNY59, via iStock

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Last week’s poll question: What quality do you think is most important for a successful career?

• Accountability 29%
• Honesty 24%
• Flexibility 23%
• Leadership 18%
• Intelligence 7%

This question was prompted by Steve Tobak’s excellent outline of the “5 Personal Core Competencies for the Real Business World.” Readers were clearly divided on which trait was most important, however, when it came to career success. I would have given the edge to flexibility. The business world is changing so fast; one has to be open-minded to keep up.

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