Forbes Magazine On How To Tell A Boss That The Boss Is Wrong

You think your boss is wrong. How do you tell him? ( Forbes Magazine )

"The chief executive I work for is too conservative," E-mails a FORBES reader, a vice president of sales at a company he would rather not name. " Our customers sense that he is out of touch with our industry. What do I do? Any ideas?"

By FORBES reporters Robert S. McNamara Secretary of Defense (1961-68)...They [the Joint Chiefs of Staff] sharply challenged my recommendation to level off U.S. deployments [in Vietnam] and my advice that we press ever harder for negotiations. The differences between me and the chiefs were not hidden, yet they also were not addressed. Why? Most people wish to avoid confrontation. I speculate that LBJ- · like all presidents-wanted to avoid an open split among his key subordinates. So he swept our divergence of opinion under the rug. It was a very human reaction. But I regret that he, [Secretary of State] Dean [Rusk] and I failed to confront these differences.

from In Retrospect (Random House)* Laurence J. Stybel President Stybel Peabody Lincolnshire Boston, MA I was once with a large consulting firm, trying to sell our services to a bank. The CEO of the bank kept going on about things he didn' t like about Jews. I was 28, it was the first time I had gone out on my own, and I was desperate to make a sale. But I was so offended I said, "I'm not here to talk about religion and I resent it." I got up to go, but he said, "Kid, sit down. I'm surrounded by yes-men who have no balls. You have balls." I was flabbergasted. And I got the $500,000 deal. Go with your gut. If your gut tells you to confront your boss, confront him.

Copyright Forbes Inc. 1997 Katarzyna Moreno, You think your boss is wrong. How do you tell him?. , Forbes Magazine, 12-15-1997, pp 018. Copyright © 1999 Infonautics Corporation. All rights reserved. - Terms and Conditions