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7 June 2006
Traveling with the boss
It could be your ticket up the corporate ladder
By Terry Riley
 Travel on business often enough and it’s bound to happen: You’ll end up
traveling with your boss—or his boss or their bosses. Any of these people
can affect your career, for the better or for the worse. There is no
question that it can be a time of added stress, but it can also be an
opportunity to improve your position in the company.
You are probably all too aware of the added stress, so let’s concentrate
on the opportunity angle. According to Lee Silber, author of Career
Management for the Creative Person, there are two things to keep in
mind when traveling with your boss: Have an objective, and be prepared.
The stated purpose of your trip may be to resolve a manufacturing problem,
sign up a new client or gather information about a competitor. The
unstated purpose should be this: Advance your career. The particular
objective is up to you. For instance, you may want to show your boss that
you are a first-rate presenter, or an expert in a particular field, or a
person with a wider range of management skills than your boss normally
sees in the workplace.
Preparation is key, and for that you need to know two things: what your
boss is like, and what the trip can do to show you off to advantage. Here
are some pointers:
Flesh out your itinerary.
You are likely to be given a basic itinerary that includes your travel
dates and times and the location of your hotels. Take it upon yourself to
fill in the blanks. For instance, you might note that you intend to meet
for breakfast at 7 a.m. to review a presentation. Or you might list the
telephone numbers of the clients you plan to visit. Or you might throw in
a reminder that a company you will be visiting just posted record profits.
Once you’ve added some meat to your company’s standard itinerary, send a
copy to your boss a week or so in advance of your trip. The idea here is
to add information to your itinerary that your boss will find useful and
that shows efficiency and initiative on your part. This exercise will also
help you determine where opportunities lie for you to demonstrate the
skills that will help you meet your career objective for the trip.
Learn about your boss.
Sure, you may know the company line on your boss: her duties, her
responsibilities, what is written about her in the media. But do you know
her hobbies, her charities, her workday routine? By learning about the
personal side of your boss, you can engage her in conversation that she
finds interesting. Likewise, by knowing your boss’s habits and lifestyle,
you are less likely to stumble. You won’t, for example, take your
vegetarian boss to an all-you-can eat ribs joint.
Learn about the destination.
With just a little bit of research, you can become a near-expert on the
fastest way to get to and from appointments, the best restaurants for your
boss’s favorite dishes, and a couple of cool, off-hours diversions that
can impress your boss with your ingenuity. If you are clever, you might
even be able to finagle an upgrade somewhere along the way.
Be extra prepared.
There’s a chance your travel plans will go awry—a very good chance. Though
you can’t prepare for everything that can go wrong, you can have
contingency plans for the more likely difficulties. For instance, know the
name of a nearby hotel in case yours has been overbooked. Carry an extra
battery for your cell phone, laptop or camera (or your boss’s). Bring
along hard copies of PowerPoint presentations. Then, when something does
go wrong, you’ll look like the star that you are.
To this list of “Dos,” I would also add three “Don’ts.”
Don’t complain.
Whining about a bad situation is what people do when they aren’t working
to resolve the problems that can get them out of it. Complaining reflects
a lack of creativity and a focus on all the wrong things.
Don’t lose your temper.
Emotions cloud rationality and make for an uncomfortable atmosphere. And
what boss wants to supervise a person who can’t control his emotions?
Don’t venture into sensitive subjects.
Stay away from topics that might be flammable. Politics, religion, sex and
personal hygiene, for instance, all tend to be career-limiting
conversation starters.
With some forethought and a little effort, you can turn the next trip with
your boss into a career advancement opportunity. Plan ahead and execute
carefully. As Silber says, “It will provide the confidence that comes from
being prepared.” And confidence, we all know, is half the battle when it
comes to impressing the boss.
© 2006 Applied Psychology
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