What Your Boss Really Wants from You

by Steve Arneson

Every group that executive coach Steve Arneson speaks to has the same question: what does my boss want? Even a good boss can be hard to read, but many people have difficult bosses. Many bosses aren’t clear about their expectations, act in seemingly inexplicable ways, and suggest motives that appear to have nothing to do with helping you achieve your career goals. Arneson says the hard truth is that any efforts to improve, fix, or convert your boss won’t work. The secret is to figure out what makes her tick and change your own approach to working with her.

The book is divided into three sections and built around fifteen questions—ten to ask about your boss and five to ask about yourself. It begins by showing you how you can study your boss to gain an understanding of what drives his behavior—work style, leadership brand, and motives. Once you understand this, you can consider how your boss sees you. Studying your boss is important, but you also have to look at yourself from her perspective. Finally, you need to take responsibility for the relationship. In this section, you’ll find practical suggestions for using what you’ve learned to change your interactions with your boss and tips for getting the relationship back on track. Arneson includes vivid real-world examples to show how he and his clients have put his advice into practice to gain more meaningful, productive, and enjoyable work lives.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Aleksandar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly practical book, full of great advice. Each chapter is divided into a series of questions you ask yourself about your boss. Each question drills down into your relationship, and gets you to flip the psychological frame, so you don't see things quite as negatively. In fact, it encourages you to develop empathy, and see things from your boss's point of view. Obviously, sometimes supervisors can just be assholes, but in the vast majority of cases, they're just people like you, and me. You may think you would understand your motivations if you ever got promoted to a position of leadership, but you'd be surprised.

Don't take your boss for granted. He's human too, and whether or not you want one, you have a relationship with him. Why not nurture it? Read this book.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, useful, and quick and easy to read.

It's a bit like a workbook, just without the actual worksheets.

The information is basic but it's a great place to start developing and understanding your relationship with your boss.

[Paul Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a relatively short read at under 100 pages, and I found the writing style very straight forward. I would recommend the book for anyone who either is a boss or has a boss and is looking to improve the relationship or struggles to understand their boss and his/her motives. I've read numerous /management/leadership books, I look for advice that can be readily implemented to improve job performance or satisfaction, and this book provides numerous suggestions that can easily be adopted. After reading What Your Boss Really Wants from you I am looking forward to seeing how a revised approach works.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book through the Goodread's giveaways program.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a firstread, thanks to the publisher for sending it.

The information is straight forward and easy to implement.

[Paiman Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

No matter how we change our attitude and behaviour, do not expect our boss to make things better. Change is our responsibility, so take the initiative.