Everybody has a boss. Like it or not, Mr. Big in the corner office is the gatekeeper of our careers. Therefore, career success requires that we learn how to manage our boss relationships.

The boss is the portal in the hierarchy through which we connect with the rest of the organization and its resources He is the one who can pass us along for promotions or stop us dead in our tracks. He is the first hurdle to get over to gain more responsibility and more money. Our plans and budgets must have his approval.

Unless you are able to establish and manage positive connections with your bosses at each step in your career you will fall short of your potential.

Bosses Hard To Accept

Accepting the idea of a boss is especially hard for ambitious careerists; few achievers like the notion of having a master who holds sway over them in the universal pecking order. Accepting authority is basically at odds with the attributes required for success.

Bosses come in all shapes and sizes. They can be fair-minded, inspiring leaders who provide the opportunities you need to make the most of your career. Bosses can also be jerks. They can be picky and petty; ogres, control freaks, bumblers, micromanagers or absentee overseers. They can be bullies that roar like lions or wimps that squeak like mice. They can be smart or as dumb as a post. They can even be crazy as loons.

On any given day, bosses can seem like a parent who is respected, feared or barely tolerated. They can be sources of conflicts and turmoil. They can be insecure. They can be mean.

In any case, our relationships with them must be managed if we are to build successful careers.

The recently released E-Book "How To Make The Boss Relationship Work For You" leads the reader through a step-by-step process for understanding these realities and turning boss relationships into career assets. Down-to-earth guidelines explain how to deal with bad bosses and bullies, how to handle boss conflicts, and how to form a partnership of mutual dependency. The reader is provided with a detail procedure for analyzing one's boss.

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Ramon Greenwood

RAMON GREENWOOD

Ramon Greenwood produces a free semi-monthly newsletter providing career advice to those who want to accelerate their careers. Contact him at ramon@commonsenseatwork.com to subscribe.

Those who know Ramon Greenwood and seek his counsel likely to describe him in such terms as "realistic" and"down-to- earth." Most agree with one of his clients who recently said, "He puts his rich and varied lode of experiences to work with an eye to results. He has the ability to make even the most complicated and formidable issues seem less forbidding and more manageable."

Another client declares: "Greenwood has been in the game, in the major leagues, for a long time. He's seen the winners and the losers up close. He knows what makes the difference between the players."

Greenwood's experiences include serving as:

• Senior Career Counselor, Common Sense At Work curently. • Senior vice president for worldwide communications at American Express; member of the board of directors of American Express Publishing Company, American Express International, Inc. and American Express Foundation. • Vice president-public affairs Consolidated Foods Corporation (now Sara Lee Corporation).

• Senior public affairs officer, U. S. Department of Transporation, during President Gerald Ford's Administration.

• Author of HOW TO MAKE THE WORLD OF WORK WORK FOR YOU and HOW TO LAND YOUR FIRST JOB. He is co-author of THE NAME OF THE GAME IS LIFE. His writings also have included a syndicated newspaper column, "Common Sense At Work"

• Wave 9 Enterprises, Inc., CEO and director ; Children On The Go, Inc., (chairman of the board and co-founder of this Chicago- based juvenile products company) ; Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, Inc. (marketing and advertising agency), director; Simmons First National (Banking) Corporation, director and member of the corporate executive committee.

• Management consultant who counsels, speaks and writes on a variety of subjects related to career and business strategies and organizational dynamics.