Who do you think the boss will promote?
Imagine you have three direct reports: A, B, and C.
A receives the boss’s directive and immediately gets to work without saying a word. Whenever you ask him how it’s going, he says “it’s fine.” By year-end, he hands in a blank slate—the job isn’t done, resources are wasted, and so on.
B receives the boss’s directive and immediately tells him, “This is impossible. Reasons one through five.”
C receives the boss’s directive, goes through the motions of starting preliminary work, and a week later says to the boss, “I really want to do this, but I’ve run into a few small problems and need your further guidance.” What are those problems? One through five.
A is the first to get fired, because he’s simply uncontrollable. This is why daily check-ins and end-of-day reports matter.
The boss won’t be satisfied even if you win, because after you win, he’ll wonder: Did I set the goal too low? Did you win too easily? Could I have pushed you harder?
He’ll still feel like he got the short end of the stick—that he didn’t leverage you fully or push you hard enough.
And if you lose, he’ll be even more dissatisfied: “You never told me anything along the way. What were you even doing?”
B will eventually get fired, too. Sure, you’re good at anticipating issues, but you don’t follow my command. You can recite reasons one through five off the top of your head. How am I supposed to know whether you truly understand the situation or whether you’re just making excuses on the spot because you internally resist my proposal?
You haven’t invested, see? You have no sunk cost, so he can’t trust you.
So why does C keep getting promoted?
It’s simple: He has conducted thorough expectation management for the boss. What you want was already something I anticipated. I’m doing this specifically for you to see.
You’re burdened with annual growth targets, which is why you make snap decisions. You don’t understand the reality, which is why you set goals without considering it.
You don’t trust me, so if I immediately speak the truth, you’ll just think I’m making excuses.
You’re worried about costs, so I can’t just dive in silently without reporting. I’ve thought of everything. So I say “yes” to whatever you say, then wait a week before giving you my one-through-five report.
You wonder, what did I spend that week doing?
I didn’t do anything. I took a week off. The one-through-five analysis I hand you a week later was already worked out before you even made the proposal.
I deliberately held back from speaking up, waiting until a week later to report. Because only at that point could you actually listen.
