Workers have rarely gotten the long end of the stick. The seduction of “do what you’re told and you’ll win valuable prizes” often doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, and so it’s not surprising that many people are skeptical about delivering something extra–work is called work for a reason.
At the same time, one of the best career choices you can make is to hire a great boss. A great boss will support you as you encounter worthwhile challenges. They’ll engage you and pay you fairly. They’ll help you build a career at the same time they teach you about the work that needs to be done.
But good bosses often know that they’re good bosses, and are looking for something in the pile of resumes that fly by. (These are often things that bad bosses don’t particularly care about or even want).
Ask useful questions
Show up before you’re expected
Make big promises and keep them
Identify errors and flaws and self-correct
Default to optimism
Do work worth doing
Build a useful network worth outsourcing work to
Show your work
Develop good taste
Generously invite feedback
Make productive decisions
Communicate with precision
It’s easy to claim these skills, but not easy to commit to being quite good at them.
Most bosses don’t deserve this level of effort. I hope you can find one that does.
