₦airaland Forum

I had similar experience in one of my previous place of work. Mine was that aside being selfish and canny, my boss was very overbearing. He was employed newly to head the department, prior to that, I was acting as dept head when my previous boss resigned. Upon resumption, I practically taught him everything in the department. Then he became very paranoid of me. He always felt I was a threat to his job.

I never disagreed with him openly except on one occasion in the presence of the MD when he made one silly suggestion which I challenged and after presenting our points, the MD took my side. After that, matters degenerated so much that he told me openly that I was eyeing his job.

I have read that 48 laws of power and is familiar with the phrase 'Never outshine your master', but unfortunately, I am not of that same school of taught. I don't have to swallow a popular phrase because it is a General believe. I made myself visible to the point that during mgt meetings, the MD always sends for me alongside him because he knows what I am capable of.

Long story short, during one of our yearly performance review and appraisal, he strongly recommended that I be sacked as I was incompetent on the job and not a team player. He ended up getting sacked for falling short of some basic management requirement.

What saved my job was not obeying one law in the 48 commandements; I was retained for having a good track record of outstanding performance visible for all to see.

Oga, make yourself visible. Next time you see an innovation that will move your company forward, prepare a very nice slide with PowerPoint and send to your MD. Tell him you need 5mins of his time to make the presentation.

Your boss did not hire you, don't let him decide when you will be sacked.

***I must add that my experience above is relative. It depends on your boss. I had a boss that gave me a project, a big one. When I was through, he forwarded my report to the MD and mentioned specifically that I was the one that did the job. He blind copied me in the mail he sent to the MD. I was overwhelmed. So it all boils down to the kind of boss you have. For such a boss, I would gladly obey the law of not bordering myself to outshine him.

There are different types of leaders in organizations. The one that normally say I achieve this and another that will say we. Being your boss today doesn't mean that is how it will continue for the next five years or ten years. I have worked under this condition for about four years. You need to be patient and face your work and have faith that your own time will come. My own case was worst than yours but with patience, endurance and perseverance I overcame all. For those advising you to copy higher management any mail you send to your boss, that's not the solution. What is happening now is one of those experience you need to become a good leader tommorow.
The one that was claiming all the glory during my time in the wilderness was my subordinate three years ago. Your time to shine will come. Be patient.

Wait for your time. Thats what they tell you to your face if you work in a govt establishment.
If you do this in the military and your immediate boss finds out he will set you up and you will be isolated and labelled over ambitious element by other senior officers.
Learn the game and remember that goldfish has no hiding place, one day your efforts will be noticed by top MGT if you keep working hard

pocohantas:
You on your path, have never had wisdom.
Let alone lacking it.

Chaii!!!

pocohantas:
You on your path, have never had wisdom.
Let alone lacking it.

If you had wisdom ,you wouldn't have fvcked your boss for money after you claimed to love me.

Your lack of wisdom pushed you into that stupidity which revealed your true nature.

SlimBrawnie:
Okay o... I wrote based on experience with an International and well structured organization that knows the value of those staff that prove their worth. Not everyone can tolerate bullsh.it from a superior but I think you are right cos in Nigerian firms, they start threatening you with a sack letter and eventually sack you.

I don’t mean harm. You wrote based on your experience which may not be suitable for the OP. According to the OP, it seems the department is new and just replaced their predecessors. I think the Boss is trying to consolidate power within the organization structure. In any ways, if the OP feels he is under appreciated, he can take a walk. However, going by what you suggested will only serve as a catalyst to see him out of the company.

YOU CANNOT FIGHT YOUR BOSS AND WIN. The reason why is your Supervisor’s Boss is actually watching you. Nobody wants a talented arrogant subordinate.

Plan a sabotage

The law of power Rule 14 Never outshine the master TRUST ME JUST START PRAYING

Since God sees your hard work, you have to wait for your time to come, like in the civil service, you don't expect presidency to increase one's salary like that, even though the person knows the work, he or she has to do promotion exam and pass before pay increase, that's how it is, your boss takes the glory, since you are working under him, relax.

Bruh, speaking from experience, this happened to me early this year & here is how I overcame it

your boss will surely go on leave, you use that opportunity to show what you capable of. believe me it works
Good luck brother, you ain't alone and God see you through.

MrOpp:
Many thanks, I think the bolded is what I just have to do, copying a superior has always been part of the problem, he doesn't want that, anything going to anyone outside the finance dept must pass through him. Its really frustrating. All the same, many thanks once again.

Don't copy any superior, keep the good work on... Surely your time will come. Have faith and don't ever compete with him

MaziOmenuko:
I had similar experience in one of my previous place of work. Mine was that aside being selfish and canny, my boss was very overbearing. He was employed newly to head the department, prior to that, I was acting as dept head when my previous boss resigned. Upon resumption, I practically taught him everything in the department. Then he became very paranoid of me. He always felt I was a threat to his job.

I never disagreed with him openly except on one occasion in the presence of the MD when he made one silly suggestion which I challenged and after presenting our points, the MD took my side. After that, matters degenerated so much that he told me openly that I was eyeing his job.

I have read that 48 laws of power and is familiar with the phrase 'Never outshine your master', but unfortunately, I am not of that same school of taught. I don't have to swallow a popular phrase because it is a General believe. I made myself visible to the point that during mgt meetings, the MD always sends for me alongside him because he knows what I am capable of.

Long story short, during one of our yearly performance review and appraisal, he strongly recommended that I be sacked as I was incompetent on the job and not a team player. He ended up getting sacked for falling short of some basic management requirement.

What saved my job was not obeying one law in the 48 commandements; I was retained for having a good track record of outstanding performance visible for all to see.

Oga, make yourself visible. Next time you see an innovation that will move your company forward, prepare a very nice slide with PowerPoint and send to your MD. Tell him you need 5mins of his time to make the presentation.

Your boss did not hire you, don't let him decide when you will be sacked.

***I must add that my experience above is relative. It depends on your boss. I had a boss that gave me a project, a big one. When I was through, he forwarded my report to the MD and mentioned specifically that I was the one that did the job. He blind copied me in the mail he sent to the MD. I was overwhelmed. So it all boils down to the kind of boss you have. For such a boss, I would gladly obey the law of not bordering myself to outshine him.

Your situation is different Chief

- You had been managing the department in the absence of your previous Boss. That they didn’t recommend you to take over maybe a different story.
- Your new Boss flattered in the presence of the MD. That’s depicts incompetence or knowledge gap.
- Your Boss was new to the internal workings of your organization and possibly didn’t know how the politics is being played.
- Your Boss had the privilege to display his competence in the presence of Exco and made a terrible mess out of it.
- You have the backing of other supervisors who recognize how important you are.

The young man’s case is quite different. He started with his Boss at the same time. His Boss seem to understand power dynamics and keeps him out of management view.

Never outshine your boss. Do your job well, Your opportunity will eventually come. I have been in your shoes!!Patience is all you need. Let him take the shine now and he will be the first person to recommend you as a competent replacement if need be.

Bro don't worry when your time comes we can't stop it. infact he will be the one to usher in. just be calm and do all ur duty as required

SlimBrawnie:
The guy seems to know/read the kind of person you are that's why he's trying this shit with you.

Always make sure you copy a superior in all your mails.. Nothing like he doesn't want that, he didn't hire you and you have the right to put whoever you want in the company in copy.

Make sure you include you name/signature on whatever you do and insist that the original copy must be the one in circulation.

You should have an HR in the company, put him or her in copy and report the matter to the HR if this guy tries to intimidate you with his position.

You've gotten too familiar with him and I think you are trying to avoid having any issues with him, reason why you've not taken any action yet... Avoid such relationships in a work place
Express yourself boldly but make sure you don't have prolonged issues with him.

Try your best possible to always make yourself relevant wherever you find yourself.

dont answer this naive girl, if u try this, very soon you will be out of a job!!!

My own told me to do the work and he'd present it at the HQ. I refused, and our relationship went south (please don't do it). So long as he is not abusive or bullies you, suck it up and let him take the credit. Get the experience you desire and be humble (not stupid please). At the moment, realize he's your boss, and wanting to talk directly to the GMD is crossing the lines and demeaning to him. No manager who knows the tiniest bit about management would allow that. That would make him look incompetent. He looks good because you are good. Work hard and don't ever try to appear smart (even though you are). It threatens people. If he recommends you to get the hammer, remember you don't have people to defend you, especially if he's not a bad person to his colleagues.

Going forward, even if you know something, let your default setting be "I don't know but I shall study it". Once you have studied it, don't flaunt it, except you want to attract jealousy and unusual attention. If they call you to explain, explain as if you have doubts about it ()i.e., as a learner), so they won't feel you are the go-to guy. Do your job diligently and don't try to appear smart.

SlimBrawnie:
The guy seems to know/read the kind of person you are that's why he's trying this shit with you.

Always make sure you copy a superior in all your mails.. Nothing like he doesn't want that, he didn't hire you and you have the right to put whoever you want in the company in copy.

Make sure you include you name/signature on whatever you do and insist that the original copy must be the one in circulation.

You should have an HR in the company, put him or her in copy and report the matter to the HR if this guy tries to intimidate you with his position.

You've gotten too familiar with him and I think you are trying to avoid having any issues with him, reason why you've not taken any action yet... Avoid such relationships in a work place
Express yourself boldly but make sure you don't have prolonged issues with him.

Try your best possible to always make yourself relevant wherever you find yourself.

thank u for dis. I was patiently waiting for some one to give him dis advice b4 I say sometin.
I hav passed dis stage in my office.
My hod cnt try poo wit me anymore like he used to wen I first joined the coy.
I resisted him wit wisdom while maintaining my position fiercely.
He asked me to stop copying superiors n I switched to bcc.
He messed himself up in mgt meeting while claiming credit for a contract I brought for d coy not knowing I blind copied all superiors from d day I starting pushing for d contract.
Such managers r just insecure n greedy.
U must step on toes to get to the top cos on ur way to d top, u will meet alot of pipo who will intimidate u, harrass u, insult u n even fight u.
Top positions are strictly for ambitious pipo

MrOpp:
Hello my fellow NLers,

I have been spending quite sometime on this forum recently, TBH, it has been informative, entertaining & quite educative.

I am presently in a dilemma and I need urgent input from experienced NLers, I believe we have experienced career people here that must have gone through what am going through at the moment.

I got a job about 6months ago, its quite a good job, thanks to Nairaland job section, on resumption I notice there was a total overhaul of my dept, all former staff were fired and we were employ to replace them. I resume same day with my Dept Manager two months later a junior officer was employ to join us.

I have had a fantastic relationship with my manager the past six months, and we are in good terms, we drive home together everyday, we chat, have quality conversation, even lunch together etc. but am really becoming worried about something else....

My manger seems to take credit for all my work, he somehow deny me opportunity to prove my worth to top management. Now I will give you a typical instance.

Whenever our GMD comes around, there is always a meeting with one rep from each dept. not neccessarily the departmental head, in his absence am suppose to represent the department, he denies me of opportunity like this.


He has on many occassions deny my opportunity to meet the GMD on job related issues, when the GMD needs to see someone from my dept. or sign some documents even in his absence, he either call me to handover documents to the GMD secretary or send an office assistant to drop the document.

Furthermore, on resumption, I noticed the coy still run their account dept manually, an accounting software was introduce, a software i have used for years, which he (my Manager) is not familiar with, though after the software was deploy, we were trained, even after the training he seems not to know his way around the software interface, i single handedly automated all historial data for the previous 2yrs, and my manager took the credit at the magt meetings. Without even mentioning my name, its really annoying.

I am totally pissed right not cos, he just got a pay rise courtesy to the successful deployment and automation of the accounting system, which he knows absolutely nothing about, which i singledhandedly, paintstakingly work on for over 6months even investing my Saturdays.

The above is one instance out of so many.

I expect a manager to represent work done my the department he manages as "WE in so & so dept" I have overheard him many times using "I".

He personally ask me not to pass any dept info to mgt staff member, and all enquiries should be refered to him. I feel he doesnt want me to shine.

I need advise from fellow NLers who have gone through similar situation.

This is not really going well with me.

Guy man just cool down and report to him. Don't ever bother reporting to the GMD. If you are destined to hit hard in the company you will. Do you know millions of people are working for A (Shell) but being paid by Z(Alhaji and Sons). In this case no hope of shine. Sometimes Alhaji and Sons don't even know U, they only pay U by month end.
Personally I have realized that Human's don't have conscience. So I don't expect pity.

BuhariBuster:
You are not there for personal glory. You are part of a team and your boss is the head. He takes credit for your accomplishments and takes the hit for your failures.

Just concentrate and don't let it appear to your boss that you are in competition with him. You better get into his good books.

David tried to take the glory away from his boss (Saul) and look at what happened to him

Huh?!
Biko, which version of the Bible did you lift this your last paragraph from?

coolcharm:
Hey OP,

I have a feeling that you are in your late 20's or early 30's.. I might be wrong, but I strongly sense so because you exuade so much energy and ambition with your write up.

While it is not a bad thing, you need to simmer down.

In corporate settings, there are always structured reporting lines, and you are his direct report!, Except you want to become his competition, which is what him 'stealing your shine' implies.

No matter how intelligent or smart you think you are on the job, never make the mistake of outsining your master (in this case, your boss).

That is the first law in Robert Greene's '48 Laws of Power'.

I leave you with excerpts from that book;

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master - Keys to Power
Robert Greene

Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others.

With those above you, however, you must take a different approach: when it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that life has changed much since the days of Louis XIV and the Medicis.

Those who attain high standing in life are like kings and queens: they want to feel secure in their positions, and superior to those around them in intelligence, wit, and charm.

It is a deadly but common misperception to believe that by displaying and vaunting your gifts and talents, you are winning the master's affection.

He may feign appreciation, but at his first opportunity he will replace you with someone less intelligent, less attractive, less threatening, just as Louis XIV replaced the sparkling Fouquet with the bland Colbert. And as with Louis, he will not admit the truth, but will find an excuse to rid himself of your presence.

------------------------------ End of quote --------------------------------



My final advice to you is to find ways to balance your ambition with patience and wisdom.

you have said it all.. I am in similar situation too. working as an IT expert... hardware and software. but credit goes to the boss and not me. sometimes I spend nights thinking of how a problem could be solved and achieved for customer satisfaction...

pedrilo:
thank u for dis. I was patiently waiting for some one to give him dis advice b4 I say sometin.
I hav passed dis stage in my office.
My hod cnt try poo wit me anymore like he used to wen I first joined the coy.
I resisted him wit wisdom while maintaining my position fiercely.
He asked me to stop copying superiors n I switched to bcc.
He messed himself up in mgt meeting while claiming credit for a contract I brought for d coy not knowing I blind copied all superiors from d day I starting pushing for d contract.
Such managers r just insecure n greedy.
U must step on toes to get to the top cos on ur way to d top, u will meet alot of pipo who will intimidate u, harrass u, insult u n even fight u.
Top positions are strictly for ambitious pipo

Thank you, Bcc was exactly one of the way out for me and worse is that such people will so use you and any day fire is on the mountain, you'd be the sacrificial lamb. Only those who don't know their self worth and are extremely desperate for a job will allow themselves to be ridden on by every Tom, Dick and Harry.
On your way to the top, you'd have to step on toes, the more reason one should avoid becoming too close to colleagues in the office.

fujirice:
Huh?!
Biko, which version of the Bible did you lift this your last paragraph from?

That is when David accepted the praise from the women attributing 10,000 to him and 1,000 to Saul.

coolcharm:
Hey OP,

I have a feeling that you are in your late 20's or early 30's.. I might be wrong, but I strongly sense so because you exuade so much energy and ambition with your write up.

While it is not a bad thing, you need to simmer down.

In corporate settings, there are always structured reporting lines, and you are his direct report!, Except you want to become his competition, which is what him 'stealing your shine' implies.

No matter how intelligent or smart you think you are on the job, never make the mistake of outsining your master (in this case, your boss).

That is the first law in Robert Greene's '48 Laws of Power'.

I leave you with excerpts from that book;

Law 1: Never Outshine the Master - Keys to Power
Robert Greene

Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others.

With those above you, however, you must take a different approach: when it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.

Do not fool yourself into thinking that life has changed much since the days of Louis XIV and the Medicis.

Those who attain high standing in life are like kings and queens: they want to feel secure in their positions, and superior to those around them in intelligence, wit, and charm.

It is a deadly but common misperception to believe that by displaying and vaunting your gifts and talents, you are winning the master's affection.

He may feign appreciation, but at his first opportunity he will replace you with someone less intelligent, less attractive, less threatening, just as Louis XIV replaced the sparkling Fouquet with the bland Colbert. And as with Louis, he will not admit the truth, but will find an excuse to rid himself of your presence.

------------------------------ End of quote --------------------------------



My final advice to you is to find ways to balance your ambition with patience and wisdom.

Well....... If you are there to improve your cv.. (i.e you are the career guy), then follow the above quoted advice.

But if you are looking for capital to start your own thing, then just lay low and endure while being focused.

BE PATIENT, PATIENT AS YOU CLIMB THE LADDER. REMEMBER AS YOU TREAT YOUR BOSS SO OTHERS WILL TREAT YOU WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR TIME. SCALE DOWN YOUR AMBITION AND FLOW WITH THE SYSTEM OR FLOW OUT OF THE SYSTEM, THE CHOICE IS YOURS.

Na today !

Bosses do even HODs or head of units because they report directly to management while team members report to leader. Hope he recognises your contributions and recommends your for promotion when the time comes

MrOpp:
Hello my fellow NLers,

I have been spending quite sometime on this forum recently, TBH, it has been informative, entertaining & quite educative.

I am presently in a dilemma and I need urgent input from experienced NLers, I believe we have experienced career people here that must have gone through what am going through at the moment.

I got a job about 6months ago, its quite a good job, thanks to Nairaland job section, on resumption I notice there was a total overhaul of my dept, all former staff were fired and we were employ to replace them. I resume same day with my Dept Manager two months later a junior officer was employ to join us.

I have had a fantastic relationship with my manager the past six months, and we are in good terms, we drive home together everyday, we chat, have quality conversation, even lunch together etc. but am really becoming worried about something else....

My manger seems to take credit for all my work, he somehow deny me opportunity to prove my worth to top management. Now I will give you a typical instance.

Whenever our GMD comes around, there is always a meeting with one rep from each dept. not neccessarily the departmental head, in his absence am suppose to represent the department, he denies me of opportunity like this.


He has on many occassions deny my opportunity to meet the GMD on job related issues, when the GMD needs to see someone from my dept. or sign some documents even in his absence, he either call me to handover documents to the GMD secretary or send an office assistant to drop the document.

Furthermore, on resumption, I noticed the coy still run their account dept manually, an accounting software was introduce, a software i have used for years, which he (my Manager) is not familiar with, though after the software was deploy, we were trained, even after the training he seems not to know his way around the software interface, i single handedly automated all historial data for the previous 2yrs, and my manager took the credit at the magt meetings. Without even mentioning my name, its really annoying.

I am totally pissed right not cos, he just got a pay rise courtesy to the successful deployment and automation of the accounting system, which he knows absolutely nothing about, which i singledhandedly, paintstakingly work on for over 6months even investing my Saturdays.

The above is one instance out of so many.

I expect a manager to represent work done my the department he manages as "WE in so & so dept" I have overheard him many times using "I".

He personally ask me not to pass any dept info to mgt staff member, and all enquiries should be refered to him. I feel he doesnt want me to shine.

I need advise from fellow NLers who have gone through similar situation.

This is not really going well with me.

Shine at your own peril.

Your decision is either quit or stay.

Your mistake was showing you are capable, now you cannot show you are not capable cos your boss will know you know your job but dont want to do it.

My advice is gradually reduce your responsibility and relegate yourself to the background. Such people like your boss could go extreme to shine, this means if you threaten his job, you will attract his wrath.

I had a boss who asked me to do something within my job responsibilities but i told him i didnt know how to.

He pays me peanuts but expects me to do a ton of a job. So i told him i didn't know which he had to pay someone else to do it even though i had to give the person the data to do it. Money he was supposed to pay me is paid to someone else since he will not give me a raise. I only did this because he doesn't know that i am responsible for that job.

Some government jobs are such that if you show you are good a your work, the work load on your colleagues and even you boss will fall on you. You are not meant to shine in every job you have.

On the other hand, your are part of his team and so not expected to shine as an individual just like in football team that strikers are expected to get goals but at the end coaches take credit for the hardwork of players.

MrOpp:
Hello my fellow NLers,

I have been spending quite sometime on this forum recently, TBH, it has been informative, entertaining & quite educative.

I am presently in a dilemma and I need urgent input from experienced NLers, I believe we have experienced career people here that must have gone through what am going through at the moment.

I got a job about 6months ago, its quite a good job, thanks to Nairaland job section, on resumption I notice there was a total overhaul of my dept, all former staff were fired and we were employ to replace them. I resume same day with my Dept Manager two months later a junior officer was employ to join us.

I have had a fantastic relationship with my manager the past six months, and we are in good terms, we drive home together everyday, we chat, have quality conversation, even lunch together etc. but am really becoming worried about something else....

My manger seems to take credit for all my work, he somehow deny me opportunity to prove my worth to top management. Now I will give you a typical instance.

Whenever our GMD comes around, there is always a meeting with one rep from each dept. not neccessarily the departmental head, in his absence am suppose to represent the department, he denies me of opportunity like this.


He has on many occassions deny my opportunity to meet the GMD on job related issues, when the GMD needs to see someone from my dept. or sign some documents even in his absence, he either call me to handover documents to the GMD secretary or send an office assistant to drop the document.

Furthermore, on resumption, I noticed the coy still run their account dept manually, an accounting software was introduce, a software i have used for years, which he (my Manager) is not familiar with, though after the software was deploy, we were trained, even after the training he seems not to know his way around the software interface, i single handedly automated all historial data for the previous 2yrs, and my manager took the credit at the magt meetings. Without even mentioning my name, its really annoying.

I am totally pissed right not cos, he just got a pay rise courtesy to the successful deployment and automation of the accounting system, which he knows absolutely nothing about, which i singledhandedly, paintstakingly work on for over 6months even investing my Saturdays.

The above is one instance out of so many.

I expect a manager to represent work done my the department he manages as "WE in so & so dept" I have overheard him many times using "I".

He personally ask me not to pass any dept info to mgt staff member, and all enquiries should be refered to him. I feel he doesnt want me to shine.

I need advise from fellow NLers who have gone through similar situation.

This is not really going well with me.

Welcome to Nigeria! You can bet he gave testimony in the church about the pay raise SMH. Hypocrites!

Go look for another job

OkaNaUbe:
.NEVER OUTSHINE YOUR BOSS - A Law of power. The GMD knows or will eventually know that your contributions is what makes your immediate boss effective.

Read Robert Kiyosaki's 48 Laws of Power.

Kiyosaki has done a remix of the book?

Bros allow your boss to shine o. Keep your friendship with him alive.
Get confirmed in the firm.

If he goes up, he will take you along, that's like 99percent sure.

Learn the office politics well, while developing yourself.

Nobody is stealing your shine, na so e be everywhere.

BuhariBuster:
You are not there for personal glory. You are part of a team and your boss is the head. He takes credit for your accomplishments and takes the hit for your failures.

Just concentrate and don't let it appear to your boss that you are in competition with him. You better get into his good books.

David tried to take the glory away from his boss (Saul) and look at what happened to him

David became the king.

The 48 laws of power that everyone is quoting doesn't have only that one law that Nigerians try to beat into lower workers heads.

There are 47 other laws, and he can abide by this one if he expects to get anywhere only in the next ten years because at this rate his boss will not make mistakes and will simply continue to use him. Two years of that law will destroy the ambitions of so many people.

Perhaps the people supporting it are those using it on junior officers.