November, 2001 

Every year, a pack of loyal executives and MBAs treks to the slopes of Mount Everest to hear Wharton management professor Michael Useem lecture. Why would successful people fly to the other side of the earth to listen to his ideas on leadership? If you read his new book, Leading Up, you'll understand. You'll also save a lot of money on airfare and sherpas. 

Jungle: What does it mean to "lead up"?
Useem: Leadership is typically viewed as what we do to the people below us. Leading up turns that concept upside down. Leadership is as much about mustering support from above as it is about rallying the troops below. History has shown that a CEO's deputies often see what's on the horizon before he does, so they need the strategic and persuasive abilities to guide their superior.

Got an example?
David Pottruck, now president and co-CEO of Charles Schwab, used to be terrible at leading up, and it almost cost him his job. As second in command to Larry Stupski, the firm's president, Pottruck had good ideas, but he also had a habit of openly challenging his boss at meetings. This alienated his co-workers and his superior. In the end, he reformed his behavior and pledged to support Stupski in public and share his criticism only behind closed doors. This helped gain his boss's respect and eliminated power struggles. Pottruck has gone on to transform Schwab from a traditional discount brokerage house into a leader in online trading.

How is leading up different from managing up?
When you manage up, you do important things for your boss and get the job done. But there's no broader vision. Leading up involves strategy. For example, someone who's managing up might bring his boss an idea for a new marketing campaign. But someone who's leading up would bring the idea and a concept of how to position the company around it. He'd be able to guide his boss in that direction.

What's the first step to leading up?
Make a list of things you'd want someone in your position to be doing if you were boss. Take those ideas to your superior. Send him an e-mail or a memo, and ask for a meeting to get the ball rolling.

Why is your book coming out now? What is changing about leadership?
Markets are becoming much faster, more complex, and less predictable. Now more than ever, subordinates are facing multiple bosses in several divisions. There's an art to juggling all those personalities.

If you could choose anyone from history as your right-hand man, who would it be?
General Peter Pace of the U.S. Marine Corps. During the Balkans conflict, he managed a staff of 92,000 Marines while answering to six superiors, all with distinct agendas.

This article originally appeared in the November 2001 issue of MBA Jungle.