Tag: #chinese metaphysics

MANAGE YOUR BOSS WITH BAZI #2 – FLY HIGH WITH YOUR INDIRECT WEALTH BOSS

Next in our series is the Indirect Wealth boss. If you work in either the marketing or business development department, chances are, you have an Indirect Wealth boss.

They are the polar opposites of the Direct Wealth boss. While the Direct Wealth is staid, Indirect Wealth is all about the leverage. Direct Wealth gets bogged down by the details, Indirect Wealth is too much big-picture thinking. Direct Wealth hates it when plans get derailed, Indirect Wealth loves short cuts.

Recognizing Your Indirect Wealth Boss

Indirect Wealth personalities are very resourceful. They have the ability to take a single idea and start spinning it out into new possibilities, ventures, projects or profit streams. Their biggest weakness? They are great starters, but lousy finishers. They will start a project off with a bang, but you will find their enthusiasm start to fade as the day-to-day minutiae of the project starts to become routine.

You can easily recognize the Indirect Wealth boss by their optimism. There is a strong pioneering streak in them that sees problems as opportunities.  When galvanized by an idea, they have the tendency to bulldoze past any objections.

Indirect Wealth profiles also tend to be very forthright and practical. Straight-talking and being honest ensures they don’t waste time with miscommunication.

The Indirect Wealth boss will likely have a transformational approach to leadership. They lead with a vision and are able to inspire a sense of shared commitment in the team.

Your Indirect Wealth Boss Under Pressure

Your Indirect Wealth boss will have less of a problem with change. However, when cornered, the Indirect Wealth boss lash out by issuing threats or ultimatums. Indirect Wealth profiles do not like being weak or having their decisions questioned. When things don’t go their way and the pressure mounts, the Indirect Wealth profile becomes hostile and the language they choose to use would become rather strong and unpleasant.

How To Deal With Your Indirect Wealth Boss

You can be indispensable to your Indirect Wealth boss if you have the skill he needs to turn his grand ideas into reality.

Be detail oriented. Indirect Wealth profiles rarely have the patience to sort through reams of data. If you can create the systems required to realize his visions, you are already a step ahead of your competitors.

Become a subject-matter expert. Become a subject matter expert within your team. Someone he can go to for quick information and opinion.

This tactic supports your Indirect Wealth boss as he attempts to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Buy into his vision. If you are a part of this process, you are automatically indispensable.

Here’s an extra note about the similarities between the Direct Wealth and Indirect Wealth boss structure. When you deal with them, you need to avoid taking things too personally. Both are blunt in speech – but it is never personal. Be as direct, objective and factual as they are. Never allow emotions to enter the conversation. Both wealth profiles will see this as a weakness.

Note: If you’ve missed my first post, plot your Boss’s Bazi Chart with this free resource (registration required) https://bazibz.masteryacademy.com/. Key in the name, gender and date of birth. You don’t need to key in the time of birth. That information is not relevant for this purpose. Scroll right down to the bottom to find the profile.

Disclaimer: The Bazi Technical terms (Direct Wealth and Indirect Wealth) are copyright property of the Joey Yap Mastery Academy. The Hidden Sun has officially written in to the group requesting permission to use these terms, analogies and charts. If you wish to learn the art of Chinese Metaphysics for yourself, please visit www.joeyyaponline.com for more information.

MANAGE YOUR BOSS WITH BAZI #1 – HOW TO MANAGE A MANAGER

I’ve opted to start this series with the Direct Wealth profile because most of them inevitably end up in the corporate world. They like the stability and structure, the security of a consistent flow of income.

Recognizing Your Direct Wealth Boss

Direct Wealth bosses are, first and foremost, disciplined and hard working. They are the ultimate bean counters. They like things well thought-out and planned, and they abhor short cuts. If you work 10 hours a day, chances are, your Direct Wealth boss will work 12.

They are extremely conscientious and principled. Right is right; wrong is wrong. There is a rather rigid black-or-white view of the world. Because of that, they can be rather rigid in their approach.

As a leader, they tend to be authoritative. This boss will tell you what to do, and also how to do it. At the best of times, it is hard for them to welcome advice from their employees – because they think they know better! Imagine this person in the uncertainties of the Covid-19 era.

Your Direct Wealth Boss Under Pressure

Direct Wealth bosses are the ones who feel the most pressure during this period of uncertainty. They don’t like change. They don’t like it when plans have to be changed. They don’t like to feel out of control.

Under pressure, they will resort to plans heaped upon plans stacked upon calendars. The guy who came up with the idea of having his employees log every single minute of their WFH day, was probably a Direct Wealth boss. There is a real danger that this type of boss will slow things down by spending too much time nitpicking on the teeny tiny details that no longer matter.

How To Deal With Your Direct Wealth Boss

So what have we learned about the Direct Wealth boss? They dislike feeling out of control, and their elaborate planning is a way to wrest back control. To be indispensable to the Direct Wealth boss, you need to be a part of that control process.

Invest time in planning. This means the time you spend creating spreadsheets, project schedules, content calendars, forecasts and projections are not wasted time. Not only do you need to create them, but you should ask for an one-on-one online meeting to walk your boss through every tiny detail. This tells him that you are on top of your game, and you are embracing your share of the responsibility.

Check in daily. Check in with your Direct Wealth boss once a day, or at least once every two days. Keep him updated on your progress, and solicit some advice on selected issues. This lets him know that things are moving on your end.

This strategy works by helping your Direct Wealth boss regain the control he needs. This way, we position you as someone indispensable who is a part of the process of him regaining control of his business.

Note: If you’ve missed my first post, plot your Boss’s Bazi Chart with this free resource (registration required) https://bazibz.masteryacademy.com/. Key in the name, gender and date of birth. You don’t need to key in the time of birth. That information is not relevant for this purpose. Scroll right down to the bottom to find the profile.

Disclaimer: The Bazi Technical terms (Direct Wealth and Indirect Wealth) are copyright property of the Joey Yap Mastery Academy. The Hidden Sun has officially written in to the group requesting permission to use these terms, analogies and charts. If you wish to learn the art of Chinese Metaphysics for yourself, please visit www.joeyyaponline.com for more information.

THE FIRST STEP TO MANAGING CHANGE – KEEP YOUR JOB

Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc around the globe, there has been a veritable cacophony of voices on my social media newsfeed calling for change. To be precise, telling people about the need to change.

As data from the economic consequences of the various lockdown measures are published and amplified by every single media outlet, these experts are seizing on that data to advocate for change. How to change. How to navigate change. Transform, we must! We are now in the era of forced entrepreneurship, one extolled. Here’s a list of industries that will suffer the most. Bail out! Here’s another list of upcoming industries. Pick one!

Honestly, it got to a point where all that ceaseless exhortations to change was becoming a little tiresome. Maybe even a little anxiety-inducing.

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely advocate for change. In fact, as mentioned in my profile, I want to use my skills to help other professionals create a second career.

So here’s my first step to managing change. If you are lucky enough to still be employed, first, keep your job.

Why? Because it is easier to create a second career or to direct a change while you are still employed. This gives you room for the inevitable mistakes. Even if you are forced to take a pay cut, at least you have a form of safety net beneath you. Once you have your job secured, then you should look into creating a pivot. Hopefully, that pivot will be something that brings you fulfilment as well as monetary rewards.

Therefore, the key here is to be indispensable.

A large part of being indispensable is upward management. In other words, boss management.

We’ve all read horror stories of employees being told to record every single minute of their day while working from home. It doesn’t matter if your boss is easy or difficult. Every boss, like every human, is unique. But there are certain broad character traits (10 categories of them, to be precise) that your boss will inevitably fit into.

So now for the trick. We will manage your boss by using his or her Bazi Chart. Of course, you still need to have the pre-requisite experience, technical knowledge and core competencies. The key here is to position yourself in such a way that makes you simply, indispensable.

All you need is his or her date of birth. Don’t know your boss’s birthday? Ask HR, they’re bound to know. Or just straight up ask them! We’re talking about the person you report directly to here. So if you report to the CEO, then by all means, plot his or her chart. Otherwise, plot the one who handles your job assessment. Because you want to be indispensable to him or her.

(For the rest of this series, I will use the generic ‘he’ to refer to the boss. No offense to the feminists out there, but typing ‘him or her’ in every other sentence is beginning to become rather unwieldy.)

Key in his name, gender and date of birth here (https://bazibz.masteryacademy.com/). It’s free, but registration is required. You don’t need to key in the time of birth. That information is not relevant for this purpose.

Scroll right down to the bottom. We are looking for this piece of information.

Ready? Let’s move to our first post in this series – Manage Your Boss With Bazi #1 – How To Deal With Your Direct Wealth Boss.

Photo Credit: Photo by Simon Abrams on Unsplash