How to Survive Your Boss

by Frank A. Ives — fictional author, real advice

About 1 hour70 pages15 chaptersPDF + EPUB$4.99

"Most people arrive at a difficult professional relationship already in opposition. The posture of opposition is self-defeating before the first conversation has happened. Your boss is not your enemy. Your posture might be."

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FRANKLYcontents · 15 chapters

What's inside

Fifteen chapters. One subject.
No wasted pages.

01Your Boss Is Not Your Enemy.p. 3
02Learn What They Actually Need From You.p. 8
03Do What You Say. Every Time.p. 13
04Bring Solutions, Not Just Problems.p. 18
05Manage Up Without Being Obvious About It.p. 23
06p. 28
07p. 33
08p. 38
09p. 43
10p. 47
11p. 51
12p. 55
13p. 59
14p. 63
15p. 67

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FRANKLYread before you buy

A taste of Frank

This is how he writes.

The hard truth · chapter 1

Most people arrive at a difficult professional relationship already in opposition. They come in defensive, resentful, half-committed, and then wonder why nothing improves. The posture of opposition is self-defeating before the first conversation has happened. It signals to the other person that you have already decided how this goes, and it ensures that you notice everything that confirms your judgment and ignore everything that complicates it.

"Understand your boss before you judge them. The picture changes significantly when you can see what they are dealing with. Understanding costs nothing. Opposition costs you everything."

A page from How to Survive Your Boss, actual size

the book is 70 pages. this is one of them.

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FRANKLYwhat changes · one hour later

The outcome

One hour. Here's what's
different after.

You'll stop entering every difficult work relationship in the posture of opposition and start asking what your boss actually needs from you. A boss whose needs you understand is a boss you can work with. Even the difficult ones.
You'll understand why doing what you say — every single time — is the rarest and most powerful professional habit available to you. The gap between obvious and rare is one of the most significant career opportunities you have right now.
You'll learn how to make your work visible to the people who need to see it, without it feeling like performance or vanity. Visibility is not vanity. It is the difference between a career that compounds and one that stays in a drawer.
You'll know exactly how to handle the micromanager, the difficult boss, and the performance review that should never be a surprise. You cannot change a difficult boss. You can manage your exposure, protect your record, and decide when the cost of staying exceeds the benefit.
You'll stop thinking of this as the job and start thinking of it as the career — and understand why the distinction changes every decision you make today. The career is longer than the job. The boss you learn from today is the boss you will eventually become.