I am sure you can think of at least one colleague, or a manager who has the tendency of managing upwards. What I mean by this is a person  who is nice to his or her superiors and those in power, but is rude and abusive to, or dismissive of his or her peers or the employees he or she manages. This behavior is also referred to as having a ‘kiss up kick down’ personality.

When someone has a ‘kiss up kick down’ personality, unfortunately, can get away with this bad behavior for a long time before he or she is discovered. The reason is that those in authority who make the decisions of whom to promote and whom to fire, only see the ‘polite’ side of this person while this person’s colleagues or subordinates feel intimidated as they see the ‘real’ person.

The ‘kiss up kick down’ person usually has mastered this tactic and is able to spout all the current leadership jargon/buzzwords during a meeting. He or she sounds very supportive of management but this is all a cover for his or her incapacity and lack of subject knowledge. He or she enjoys to the limelight and tends to speak in a roundabout way where nothing he or she says makes sense. A lot of spoken words but no substance.

The message here is that you can go only so far with your acting, and kissing up. Eventually, there comes a true leader who can see through the pretenses and the acting. If you want to earn the trust and respect of your leaders, your team and your colleagues, you need to start being genuine. Examine your behavior and understand that your team, colleagues and subordinates are as important as are your superiors. Everyone deserves your respect and support, not only those in power.

Remember, everything you want to achieve requires teamwork. You can only succeed if you have people who are willing to stand behind you and willing to follow you as their leader. Otherwise, though you may move up the ladder for a while, and yet when you eventually experience a hard fall (and you will) no one will be there to catch you.

The decision is yours…. kiss up and kick down… or be a kind human being toward both “upstairs and downstairs?”