If you’re working for a DUD leader, theres no love from above. Theres no support, guidance, or interest in your well-being as a talented, contributing member of the team.

Theres only a calculated and one-sided tendency towards self-promotion, self-preservation, and self-love. When there’s no love from above, those being led feel as powerless and insignificant as a line of ants under the feet of careless giants. While the hard-working ants dutifully work, the big-wigs stomp about over them, not really caring who or what they crush in the process. If you’re working in a culture where there’s no love from above watch your step and try these simple strategies to avoid getting squished.

• Stay positive. When you’re working for negative, egotistical DUDs, its even more vital that you remain a positive WOW influence to yourself and those around you. Even though theres no love from above, you can keep the good energy flowing by injecting positivity, cooperation, and camaraderie within the team itself.
• Remain authentic. If you cant beat em, definitely don’t join em! While its true that you cant be stomped on when you’re standing beside a DUD, you can, and probably will be, pushed under the bus when the proverbial stuff hits the fan! Resist the temptation to align with DUDs. Stay true to yourself and your own ideals and aspirations, keeping your own moral code and WOW behaviors always at the forefront.
• Set goals. When theres no love from above, the goals, philosophies, and culture of your current job probably don’t match your own. Set individual goals, of both a personal and career nature, to stay grounded and on course to the success and happiness you seek. Formulate a plan that steers you in the right direction even if that means setting a timeline for an eventual exodus.
• Keep your network active. In situations where theres no love from above, you may eventually need to start shopping for a new job. Be sure to maintain, support, and grow your network of business and personal contacts. That way, you’ll have a potential lifeline when you can no longer tread water in the shark tank you’re swimming in.
• Seek a mentor. In addition to keeping an active network, seek out a trusted, admired, and honest mentor and role model. Having no love from above can wreak havoc on the morale, enthusiasm, and overall attitude of even the most solidly grounded WOWs. Its not easy to survive let alone thrive under leadership thats always bringing you down. A mentor can give you the guidance, support, and help thats not currently being provided.
• Don’t wake the giant. Although everyone knows theres no love from above, be careful not to trash-talk, stir up trouble, or plot against leadership. It will only come back to bite you. Keep one eye open when the DUD giants are lurking about, and don’t put a target on your back!

Although circumstances may keep you (at least temporarily) working where theres no love from above, that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to the DUD influences at the helm. Be a productive, contributing member of the team, always putting your best efforts and attitude forward. If you can shine as a WOW under a DUDs shadow, then even with no love from above, you’ll have it within.

–Sheri Staak