title: @EthanEvansVP: Manager support was crucial for my promotion to VP and to every other promotion ...
author: EthanEvansVP
content_type: twitter_article
published: 2026-02-05T21:00:44+00:00
source_url: https://x.com/EthanEvansVP/status/2019516565885256162
word_count: 487
Manager support was crucial for my promotion to VP and to every other promotion too. When my manager
Manager support was crucial for my promotion to VP and to every other promotion too. When my manager relationship was not good, I ended up leaving.
My VP found me an SVP mentor, wrote my promotion document, and pushed my promotion through. Yes, I did the work. But without his *active* support, no promotion would have followed.
Your manager controls your work, your reviews, your raises, and more. With this much influence on your daily work, it is no wonder that the manager relationship drives 70% of job departures. When it's good, it's great. When it's bad, it's unlivable.
There is a lot we can do to create good relationships with a manager, often called "managing up."
0) Point zero, before we start, is that managing up is neither bad nor political. As a manager, I loved it when my team tried to work with me to help me. Some individuals do cross the line from helping to manipulating, but the idea itself of "managing up" is both ethical and helpful.
1) Managing Up simply means, proactively working to understand your manager and work in a way that helps them, fits their style, and is mutually beneficial.
Breaking down this definition:
"Helps them" means assisting the manager in meeting their own personal and team-level goals.
"Fits their style" means understanding how they like to work and adapting to it as best as you reasonably can, for example with short messages or detailed data dumps depending on preference
"Mutually beneficial" means that managers are human and help those who help them. There are occasional managers who have their own issues and are exploitative, but most managers will support those who are truly helping team and company goals
There is a system to manage up well, regardless of your specific manager. You can learn it, use it, and benefit from it, all completely ethically at every step.
Three years ago when I created my first course, Break Through To Executive, I surveyed the students on what else they wanted to learn and the runaway first place topic was "Managing Up."
I recorded a course, tossed it on the Kajabi platform, where it has slowly accumulated views for 3 years.
What I have never done is teach the course live. I'm doing that now.
On Sunday, March 1st, at 9 AM US PST I will deliver a live version of a newly updated and revised class on Managing Up, complete with a Q&A period after the class lecture.
I only plan to present this class live once, so if the topic interests you and you would like to be able to ask questions, this is your chance.
The class will be followed by 3 quarterly live Q&A sessions, so you will have a chance to ask follow up questions all year.
Readers - what challenges do you experience building supportive relationships with your managers?
Posted: 2026-02-05T21:00:44.000Z
Engagement: 129 likes, 11 retweets, 2 replies