It’s not her fault really. She’s just doing twenty million things. Talking to my boss is like trying to keep up with a runaway train. If you cut her off mid-sentence, look carefully into her eyes. You can see the derailment take place in her mind. I’ve learned to wait until the train stops to answer. I’ve yet to learn the subtlety needed to determine when I should take the initiative or wait until the lights green.
My mentor suggested I take the imitative but the last time I did that she asked me why I distributed the data without getting an ok from her. (If it didn't take numerous revisions within a three week period, I would have.) Then there are the times when she swears she hasn’t seen the document when I have the copy she wrote her comments on. I’ve learned to keep all her notes regardless if they are on a napkin for CYA purposes.
Today I got balled for not doing something that I had no idea I was doing. As my mentor has said, “She has conversations in her head that haven’t really taken place. You just have to know that it happened.” Brilliant.
Don’t get me wrong, my boss is an extremely intelligent woman. So just has so much swimming in her head. I don’t envy her. As my mentor has said, “If I knew the answer to what she wants, I wouldn’t be here in this office.” I don’t know how confident that makes me with her being my mentor and all.
