Help Brad!

I work at a large, publicly traded company. Last year, right before Christmas, our boss gave us all a "pep talk" about "honesty and integrity" in the workplace and the need to keep everything "above board" and "on the level" when it comes to dealing with vendors and handing out contracts. Apparently, there had been some impropriety with a past employee.

Among his comments were the "inappropriateness" of receiving gifts from vendors in fear that they could be considered "payola." We routinely get flowers from vendors on our birthdays, maybe a gift certificate to a book store, but nothing more. He demanded that we refuse all such gifts and the department complied.

THEN we all see that for Christmas, HIS vendors had given HIM Dom Perignon (3 bottles!!!), a week at a beach house in Hawaii, personalized luggage - you name it! And, of course, did HE send any of it back? NO!

So, why do the schlumps like us have to refuse $40 gifts when he's being romanced? What can I do show him how wrong this is?

Susan Baker, Manager, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Burbank, CA

Ms. Baker,

You could start by doing NOTHING!!!

You people in the entertainment business crack me up. All you have to do is stay the course, put your nose to the grindstone and soon enough you'll be the ones receiving the expensive gifts FOR A JOB WELL DONE... Get it? Vice Presidents do good jobs - period - end of story.

But, no, you have get all petty - 'My boss gets this... My boss gets that.' HE'S(SHE'S) THE BOSS! Of course they get the stuff! Why should you get the stuff? What have you done? I guess not enough or you wouldn't be jealous.

How would it feel to you if you were Vice President, drinking Dom Perignon in Hawaii? Awesome fucking great, right?

Now get back to work and stop complaining!

 

Brad,

Is it ever a good idea to acknowledge that one of your reports might have had a good idea?

Jerry C, Manager, Branch Relations, Bank of America, San Francisco, CA

Mr. C,

If you're talking about taking the credit for an idea you came up with as opposed to your boss - then the answer is a big fat NO!

If you're talking about an idea your boss came up with and you want to compliment him, then by all means GO FOR IT!

What you people in the middle rungs of the corporate ladder must realize is that if a report is being MANAGED by a Vice President, then IT IS the Vice President's report. Who cares if you came up with a nice piece of analysis or a fun fact? It's the VP's report and you work for the VP - end of story.

But think about the upside. If you listen to my advice, soon you'll be a Vice President and getting all the credit you deserve.

 

Brad,

My boss is a moron. Just because he's a Harvard MBA, he thinks he's the God of Business. How do I handle this?

Jason Theroux, Manager - Textile Investor Relations, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Orlando, Florida

Mr. Theroux,

First all of, if your boss went to Harvard, he is not a moron and unless you went to Harvard, he can most likely teach you a thing or two. Your boss will always be at a higher level than you, so my advice, Mr. Theroux, is to look at your own performance and find out if you are part of the reason you don't like your boss. Maybe if you executed his strategy the way he wanted, you could get out of Middle Management and into the Corner Office.

 

Brad,

Six years ago I was hired out of college as an analyst for Arthur Andersen. Today, I am only at a Director level. I keep hearing about 27 year old Sr. Vice Presidents and here I am... stuck. I'm going to be 30 next fall. What should I do? Has opportunity passed me by?

Michael Thompson, Director - Retail, Arthur Andersen Consulting

Mr. Thompson,

Maybe you should actually try reading Middle Management instead of just skimming through the ads. You're obviously not proving yourself to be worthy of upper management.

Perhaps you dress casual on Friday. Vice Presidents don't dress casual in the shower.

Don't fraternize with the help. Assistants are assistants, they're not drinking buddies. If you want to go slumming, go slumming - but you'll be doing it as a Director the rest of your life.