Managing Up Without Selling Out

How to Lead Your Boss, Drive Clarity, and Build Influence From the Middle

Read Time: 5 minutes

Let’s talk about one of the most overlooked project management skills—managing up.

You are handling deadlines, people, and priorities. But what happens when the person above you becomes the most significant risk?

They are hard to reach.
They do not give clear direction.
They go quiet when things go wrong.

And yet the project still falls on your shoulders.

Let’s talk about how to lead from the middle and why doing it well is one of the most powerful things you can learn.

The Reality: Your Boss Might Be the Risk

Stakeholder alignment sounds great in theory. But what happens when your most significant obstacle is the person who should be setting the tone?

Maybe they:

• Approve work with no definition of success
• Skip kickoff and reviews
• Change direction halfway through execution
• Dodge hard conversations with other leaders

They are not bad people. They are just overwhelmed or unclear. But your job is to shield the project from that chaos.

What Managing Up Looks Like

Managing up is not being fake. It is not being passive. It is creating structure, clarity, and progress even when leadership is not delivering it

Try this instead:

• Make decisions easier for them. Present three options with clear trade-offs and a recommendation.
• Repeat and document everything. After meetings, send a brief recap of the decisions made and any open questions.
• Speak in their language. Tie your updates to what they care about—timelines, reputation, risk, or revenue.

🎯 One PM in our Community said her leader disappeared for weeks, then asked for an urgent update. She created a one-pager that highlighted which decisions were blocked and which were moving forward. Her boss got back to her within hours, without her having to chase again.

From Frustration to Quiet Influence

When leadership is unclear, it is tempting to check out. But this is where great PMs grow:

• Focus on outcomes, not complaints. Reframe issues around delivery impact.
• Manage across the org. Lateral influence is just as powerful as upward pressure.
• Escalate with clarity, not emotion. Use facts and implications, not frustration.

The best PMs quietly build influence by solving problems early and making their leaders look good in the process/

And that’s how real leadership happens between the milestones.

👇 Your Turn

Have you had to lead when someone above you was unclear or missing?

👉 Share your story in the comments below or respond to this email.

You might be featured in an upcoming spotlight!