Stop trying to prove yourself to your boss
One very, very common stress-inducing thought that I hear from a lot of high achievers is…
“I need to prove myself to my boss.”
Now, surely that’s a good thing to be trying to do, right?
You want to have a strong reputation in your company.
Your boss’s opinion of you determines your standing and trajectory on your team.
If your boss thinks you’re doing a bad job, they might even fire you.
So of course you should be working hard to prove yourself, right??
Here’s the problem with trying to prove yourself to your boss.
It leads to you spending a lot of time asking: What would my boss think of this?
And NOT much time asking: What do *I* think of this?
The more time you spend imagining your boss’s opinion of things…
The less time you spend developing YOUR opinion of things.
I’m sure your boss has a very strong perspective on things, and they let you know what it is all the time.
But that doesn’t mean you have to leap up and immediately start tap dancing according to their instructions.
Pause.
Look around.
Your boss’s perspective is just ONE input for you to consider.
Look at all the other inputs too —
Everything you’re observing
The conversations you’re having
The metrics you saw
The analysis you did
The customers you talked to
What your previous experience and your gut and your spidey sense are telling you about this situation
And take the time to ask yourself: What do *I* think?
And if it turns out your opinion doesn’t align with your boss’s…
Then spend your time figuring out…
How can you test and validate your own opinion?
How can you better understand your boss’s perspective and why they’re convinced it’s true?
What’s your communication strategy to bridge the gap?
All of those are WAY more useful questions to spend your time on than “How can I prove myself to my boss?”
And by spending your time answering them…
You’re going to prove yourself much more effectively anyway.
Because remember, the goal is not to “get an A” from your boss.
The goal is to move the team and the business forward.
And if you’re not sure what your own opinion even is…
Or how to articulate it effectively…
Or what your communication strategy should be…
Come talk to me and let me help.
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
You tell me what’s on your mind and all about the situation you’re facing.
I’ll give you my coaching perspective on it.
And you walk away with an actionable game plan for what to do next.
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
Developing your own opinion in the middle of everything else you’re trying to get done…
Learning how to articulate it effectively to a boss that may not be the friendliest or most receptive…
And pushing forward your agenda and your perspective in a sea of competing voices inside your team and your company…
This is not a one-and-done process.
Having a coach carves out time on your calendar to work on this systematically.
And it gives you an expert thought partner to work with.
Someone who has spent hundreds of hours thinking about this stuff, has seen tons of situations just like this, and can give you instant, distilled advice that you can run with immediately.
Let’s start today :)
What my clients have to say…
“I’d definitely recommend Pooja to women of color in leadership positions.
I know that would be a slam dunk because I think there are fewer options out there for folks like that where they can relate to the person.”
—Client | CEO, PE-backed company
I help high achievers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want
Today’s post focused on #1.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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