Leading Up

A friend of mine introduced me to a new term recently: leading up. I don't really have a precise definition for this term but a quick Google search shows its fairly common just new to me. Essentially, as I've seen it played out in his life and mine, an explanation of leading up could be: Leading up is leading those who are in leadership over you. That's a tricky thing to do. You can't lead with positional authority and just tell them what to do. You're the subordinate. You can't just be the smarter person who always knows more than they do. Then you'll appear as a threat. Leading up is about relational maneuvering. One person who mentored me said to me once, "You need to lead this team in such a way that the ideas and pathways you introduce they adopt and think they were their own." That's what you have to do when you lead up. Leading up could appear arrogant. "How is it that you think you should be in charge?" But truth be told, sometimes you end up working for people who aren't as qualified, or don't have the leadership moxy, or don't have the ingenuity that you do. Sometimes you work for people who are mean, disingenuous, critical or inept. Sometimes you really are smarter and a better leader. All of these require leading up. Leading up needs to be done in such a way that it does not appear subversive, as if you are attempting a coup. Even if you are. It requires care for those you work for. You need to have theirs and the organization's best interest at heart. Leading up. My new favorite phrase. PLEASE NOTE: If you are one of my bosses, this doesn't apply to you. ALSO NOTE: If you work for me, don't get any ideas.