Asim Qureshi, CEO Jibble Group & LaunchPad / Linked In
If you’re working in a decent company don’t suck up to your boss. In such companies, it works against you – it makes you look desperate and weak.
Sure, be respectful to your manager. But be just as respectful to your other colleagues. While you have less responsibility and authority than your manager, you are nonetheless still equal to him/her.
So don’t offer your seat in a meeting room when your manager walks in after you unless you would offer it to others, don’t go out of your way to make coffee for him/her when you wouldn’t do it for anyone else, don’t buy your boss a present when you come back from a holiday unless you’ve bought one for others in the team.
Listen, you don’t have your job because your manager has given it to you as some sort of gift – you have it because he/she can’t find anyone better. Don’t forget that.
And if sucking up works you’ve got the wrong manager or you’re in the wrong company. Get out.
In my first job, I got some fantastic advice from my boss. He said, “Asim, if you want others to respect you, you need to respect yourself first.”