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In other cases, your boss may have a very different perspective from yours on the strength or weakness of a particular relationship: "Why do you have your connection with Jerry in marketing rated as a 2? I think you two get along great. Sure, he's always grouchy and full of complaints, but that's just the way Jerry is. You should hear what he says about the other department heads -- he complains about them a hell of a lot more than he complains about you!" Depending on your relationship with your boss, you may choose to show your boss just your list of contacts and how important you feel they are, and not share your strength-or-weakness rankings.

A great question to ask your boss is,"How can I provide the greatest value to the people in my universe?" From his or her unique perspective, your boss can offer insights that will deepen and enrich your understanding of what success in your job really entails -- insights such as, "Given the financial pressures we're under right now, the folks in Production aren't that concerned about perfecting product quality. Their main goal is to get goods out the door as quickly as possible.Whatever you can do to keep the plant running 24/7 will make them happy, believe me."

Conversely, the Manager's Universe exercise is also a useful tool to help those who report to you. When a new person joins your team, when one of your direct reports gets promoted or moved to a new assignment, or when a team member is feeling frustrated or stuck, sit down with him or her and have this person create his or her own map. Or bring the exercise into one of your team meetings and invite the entire group to discuss their findings.

This exercise is especially helpful after a reorganization. Most companies will provide employees with memos describing the new reporting relationships, sometimes including org charts complete with ruled and dotted lines that supposedly reveal the crucial connections among individuals and departments. What these charts leave unclear is where the power lies, which informal connections will be important, and who will have the greatest impact on your success. Working through a Manager's Universe mapping exercise with your team after a reorganization will enable you to combine input from many sources into a single map of crucial relationships that everyone can work from together, making it easier for your department to hit the ground running once the dust of the reorg has settled.

Understanding Your Boss's Universe

Some managers can't get over their bosses' shortcomings. They count on their bosses to deliver support for their efforts, answers to their questions, and solutions to their problems. When these are not forthcoming (or when they are delivered partially, ineffectively, or too late), the managers in The Middle are disillusioned, upset, and angry.

These expectations and reactions may be understandable. But they're also unrealistic. In the old days of the command-and-control corporation, managers were taught to believe "The boss is always right." Today, smart managers follow a new rule: "The boss isn't always right, but he has the right to be wrong." Once you understand this reality, you can begin to cope with the consequences of your boss's shortcomings and figure out ways to manage productively and happily despite them.

By cutting their bosses some slack, wise managers create an environment where they get some wiggle room in return. They don't fuss about whether their boss's every pronouncement or policy is right or wrong. Instead, they focus on making everyone around them, including their boss, successful.

In the world of business, there's really no substitute for a happy boss. When the boss is happy, there's music playing, the air smells fresher, and food tastes better. So it only makes sense that one of the most important things any manager can do is learn what it takes to make the boss successful.

However, this is easier said than done. For many of the managers we interviewed, a major challenge is determining their bosses' needs. Some of the best advice on this subject comes from Joe Ripp, the former Vice Chairman of AOL and now President and Chief Operating Officer of Dendrite, a provider of corporate sales and marketing solutions. Joe says, "If you can help solve your boss's boss's problems, then your immediate manager will look better and be more successful. Making life easier for the people up the ladder from you will ultimately make your life easier."