Overview

If you are moving up the corporate ladder, there will come a time when you will receive an assignment from someone much higher in the chain of command. The "big boss" might be the president of the company, or a senior vice president, or your boss's boss.

The important difference is that it's not your direct boss who is giving the assignment. It's not someone you are used to. An assignment from a senior person beyond your norm can be very significant for many reasons, not to mention for your career. What do you do?

How do you handle yourself? Who else do you involve? Are there any rules for this type of thing? What are they?

That's what we'll explore in this chapter. To help set the framework, we'll begin with a story and draw some pointers from it.