Link to Scott Mautz's Leading from the Middle: https://amzn.to/4yAicEr

This episode makes the case that managing up is the skill of building a working partnership with the person above you, one based on trust, that eventually puts you in a position to influence the way they think and decide.

I lean heavily on Chapter 4 of Scott Mautz's book Leading from the Middle (Wiley, 2021), “Leading Your Boss,” which lays out a seven-step plan, and I pull in the classic Harvard Business Review article on the topic, “Managing Your Boss” by John Gabarro and John Kotter, plus McKinsey research, Joseph Grenny's guidance on disagreeing with your boss, and practical tools for one-on-ones.

This isn't a data-heavy episode. It's a how-to.

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Sources Cited in This Episode

Mautz, S. (2021). Leading from the Middle: A Playbook for Managers to Influence Up, Down, and Across the Organization (Chapter 4, “Leading Your Boss”). Wiley.

Gabarro, J.J., & Kotter, J.P. (1980, January–February). Managing your boss. Harvard Business Review. (Reprinted January 2005 as “Best of HBR 1980,” Reprint R0501J.)

Barta, T., & Barwise, P. (2017, April 27). Why effective leaders must manage up, down, and sideways. McKinsey Quarterly. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/why-effective-leaders-must-manage-up-down-and-sideways

Lew, C. (2019, August 15). How to manage up effectively. Know Your Team blog (now Canopy). https://canopy.is/blog/2019/08/15/how-to-manage-up-effectively/

Grenny, J. (2014, November 25). How to disagree with your boss. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2014/11/how-to-disagree-with-your-boss

Watkins, M.D. (2013). The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter (Updated and expanded ed.). Harvard Business Review Press.

Rogelberg, S.G. (2022, November–December). Make the most of your one-on-one meetings. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2022/11/make-the-most-of-your-one-on-one-meetings

Bowles, H.R., Babcock, L., & Lai, L. (2007). Social incentives for gender differences in the propensity to initiate negotiations: Sometimes it does hurt to ask. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 103(1), 84–103.

McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org. (2025). Women in the Workplace 2025.

Additional Resources Used to Write This Episode

Atlassian. (2024). 7 tips for better 1-on-1 meetings. Inside Atlassian. https://www.atlassian.com/blog/inside-atlassian/1-on-1-meeting-tips

Peter Drucker's “listeners and readers” distinction, as described in Gabarro and Kotter's article above.

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