I’ve got another myth in mind today. Big Foot? Aliens? The Bermuda Triangle? And by the way, whatever happened to the Bermuda Triangle? When I was a kid, it seemed like every show had some kind of reference to it. Now, no one ever talks about it anymore.

I think some of you won’t agree with my characterization of this as a myth. You will say, “Oh, but Evan, it is very real.” Well, yes, it is real, in the sense that there are many leaders who believe in this; in fact, some might think it is the most important aspect of your work life. But I’m going to explain why it isn’t a real thing, and shouldn’t be a real thing.

The myth of “managing up”. 

Let me explain. Have you heard this phrase before? Have you used this phrase before? First, let me say that this isn’t about judging, it’s about awareness and helping leaders improve…without, as the subtitle of my book says, losing your soul.

Most organizations are structured pretty similarly. There are the people who DO the work (in my world, that would be the programmers and developers). They DO 90% of the work. Then there are the managers and directors, those who, hopefully, help those who do the work remove roadblocks, care for their day-to-day needs, ensure they have the support and tools they need to do the work efficiently, etc….Then you have the VPs who hopefully take care of the managers and directors and see that they have good goals and support toward those goals, and the resources they need to accomplish those goals. Then you have executive leaders who should be setting strategy and high-level goals and overall roadmap for the organization.

Right? Isn’t that essentially how most companies are structured? So here is where things, in my opinion, go wrong. When anyone above the DOer group starts to believe the people under them exist to serve their own needs. If I, as a manager, believe that my team’s job is to serve me and do things to make me look good and appease me, we have a broken system. The same is true at each level. So if a VP demands of a director or manager that they “manage up” rather than manage down, it’s a sign of a broken system, a broken culture, one that is essentially driven by the concept that I’m more important than you are, and you must understand that and capitulate to my importance.