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Boss Stealing Your Ideas?
By admins | October 16, 2008
So is your boss stealing your ideas or taking credit for your work? Unfortunately this is a very common problem but what you should do about it really depends on your position and your boss’s personality. While you may not want to hear this, often your most important job is to make you boss look good. This may even mean letting her take credit for work that you’ve done. Nobody wants an employee who is constantly trying to one-up them or isn’t a team player. Usually, the lower your position is, the more you may just have to suck it up. However, there are also just plain bad bosses out there who take advantage of their staff. You want to be very careful that you are not putting yourself in a situation where you become one person’s bitch aka permanent assistant. So let’s say you do have an evil boss who is blatantly stealing your work, you can not let him/her get away with it. It is important to consider why this is happening, is it the company’s system ie. only top management is allowed in meetings or senior level positions only present to the big bosses? If this is the case confront your boss directly but nonconfrontationally. Ask very sweetly to be included in meetings and request advice from your boss on how to get more recognition for your ideas. But if this situation is occurring because your boss is an insecure, incompetent, ego-maniacal sadist then maybe some of these suggestions will be more effective.
- Keep a paper trail – use emails, notes, original sketches, etc… to keep a record of where an idea came from.
- Layers and Locking – use your computer systems to keep work locked/held in layers/read only/hidden to keep technically challenged bosses out.
- Protect files – use code names to label files and folders on shared servers or better yet keep all work on a password protected desktop.
- Go public – Present your ideas at group meetings and in front of higher-ups making it difficult for your boss to take credit later on.
- Pop into meetings – If possible when your boss heads into a meeting to present “her work” you just happened to pop in before it’s officially underway. Need an excuse to be there? How about, “I just wanted to make sure that I had given you all the copies of my work”, “I just wanted to make sure that you had taken my newest samples as well.”, “I just wanted to hear every-one’s response to all my hard work.”
- Go over her head – Start schmoozing with the big bosses and make the VP your new best friend. In casual conversations mention your newest ideas to him/her first and later on down the road politely seek advise regarding your boss’s bad habit.
- Use your name – Put your name on everything. Every spec, tech pack, sketch, even every sample and make sure that it is clearly visible to everyone whose work this is.
- Quit – Yes that’s right, just quit. Life is too short and sometimes a bad boss is just a bad situation. So say goodbye to the crazy beotch and let her drive the company into the ground.
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Topics: designers, fashion, fashion industry, jobs | 2 Comments » 
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October 18th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Awesome…Finally somebody broke it down! Thanks!
April 15th, 2009 at 10:46 am
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