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Patrick Lencioni has a great piece in today's Wall Street Journal. The title is: "How to Manage Your Boss."

Most of the time, the people who answer that question offer up some manipulative drivel. They promise it will get the boss to do what you want him or her to do.  Not Lencioni. He says the following.

"My response disappoints people who are looking for a subtle, clever interpersonal strategy for manipulating a manager. I put the onus right back on the employee.

Anyone who wants to influence their boss has to start by accepting that the manager actually does want to do better."

He goes on to offer an approach he calls "kind truth." I've never called it that, but I've seen what Lencioni describes work. It involves empathizing with the boss and expressing that empathy.

My only quibble with his piece is that he leaves out something I believe is crucial. Your job is to help your boss succeed. If you can't do that, it's time to find someplace else to work. Without that commitment, all techniques become manipulation.