If you choose well as to what part of your boss’s job to do, you’ll create tremendous job security for yourself, accelerate your learning, be seen as the ultimate team player, and very importantly, be viewed as a potential successor.

How do you take on more without being an unappreciated interloper on the boss’s turf?

1.Ask what s/he desperately needs done but doesn’t have the time to.
2.Ask what would enable her/him to focus on critical tasks.
3.Intelligently observe what you see as the answer to #1 and #2 – before you ask the boss — and volunteer to take that on.

This seems like an obvious thing to do but very few people will. So not only are there many benefits to your own career, you don’t have that much competition in doing it.

It’s not just about doing good work and having a ready resume. If you chose to do this (because it is your choice), you manage your career if you:
-Learn how people get promoted in your organization and you do the same.
-Solve problems and make issues go away; communicate it so others know what your team has accomplished and the value they add to the organization.
-Are willing to work for a boss you don’t like and still make the boss look good and smart.
-Help your boss get promoted; help your subordinates get promoted.
-Consistently exceed expectations; do better than they think you will.
-Take it upon yourself to learn how profit and loss happens in your organization; if you don’t have direct profit and loss responsibility yourself.
-Coach your people on the next steps they should take after each of their accomplishments.
-Get a replacement ready to take your place.
-Look, work, walk, and talk (without a hint of arrogance) like you are already in the next job before you are so they “see” you in it.

You decide where you want to go – and go for it — rather then just drift. (There’s a lot of drifting going on.) Those who think about it and plan for it (even a little) do a lot better. Odds are stacked against you unless you do. It’s easy to be passive; that why it’s so popular.
Plan, but don’t plan on your plan working out because there is no way you can anticipate the myriad of changes, surprises, and setbacks you’ll encounter. You’ll end up in jobs, companies, industries, you haven’t even considered. You’ll change; the world will change.
The best professional development tool is a big job. You’ve got to try stuff that on paper you have no right to but that seems like a good idea anyway. Some of the new big jobs won’t work out flawlessly; but if you win all the time it means you aren’t competing at a high enough level. A CEO friend told me, “If you don’t have butterflies starting your new job, you’re not reaching.”

It’s going to happen to someone; it might as well be you.

You don’t have to be the company’s top record producer, an alumnus of the best B-school, have the highest IQ. You can come from any walk of life. You can be tall, short, attractive, and not so attractive.

If you’re going to work anyway, you might as well go for the top job. I say, “If it’s not going to happen in your company, go to another company, or start your own!” Because the top job is the job where you can:

-Turn things around; make things happen.
-Make a difference.
-Select the people you’re around.
-Do something about the problems you complain about.
-Make your own decisions.
-Minimize doing things that you think are stupid.
-Choose the chances you’re going to take.
-Make decisions that can make the world a better place.
-Help more people.
-Do what you think is right.
-And control your own destiny.

A CEO friend of mind said, “I figured I’m as smart as others running the show plus I didn’t like busting my a_ _ as a good soldier and corporate stooge. I decided to be the boss that I always wanted to have.”
Aside from the benefits mentioned, being the top dog, you’ll make more money sometimes 40, 50, and more times what entry level people make in the company. And if that offends you, you’ll just have more of it to give away. In my opinion, the main benefit of making more money is that it provides you the freedom to not have to do things for money.
Plus as the chief, you have the most direct route to help humanity. In addition to leading the organization as you see fit and you can take on a socially responsible position to put resources towards solutions in: global climate change, energy challenges, clean water in developing countries, the world economy, global peace, chronic hunger and poverty, humanitarian relief, corruption, IT access for everyone, wellness and health issues (HIV, malaria, etc.), education initiatives, and, at the very least, an equal opportunity for people to grow and prosper.
That kind of stewardship is a gift not many people get to have. You need influence and resources and that can come only from being a leader and a chief.

People like you better if you ask them things rather than tell them things.

You don’t ask to impress, interrogate, intimidate, dominate, embarrass, put people in the corner, ‘nail’ others on something, catch people off guard, be nosy, or verbally stalk.

You do ask to learn, maintain other’s self-esteem, focus on others instead of yourself, verify what you already know, test what you think, develop trust, and to avoid coming across as a know-it-all.

Aside from the classic “who, what, when, why, where and how” which works in most any conversation, some of my favorite questions to ask in business and social situations; online and offline:

-What was the smartest decision you made….this month…in your life?
-What is the proudest accomplishment last year?
-What is the biggest thing you’re working on this year…this month?
-What was the kindest, most generous-spirited thing you saw someone else do?
-Who was the person (or people) who had the greatest impact on your life last year….ever?
-What was the biggest risk you took recently…or in your life?
-What compliment were you proudest to receive?
-What are you most committed to changing or improving in your life…your work…yourself?
-Have you been anywhere recently that you enjoyed?

I generally avoid asking:
-Had any surgery lately?
-Ever been in prison?
-What’s your religious, political, or sexual inclination?

Be sure to volunteer information without being asked to keep the balance in the conversation. One CEO said, “I give a little and then I always get more back.” If you only ask and “take’ but not “give,” people will stop answering.