S1 E15 · Practice Guide
The Managing Up Audit
Free companion workbook · When Managing Up Becomes a Second Full-Time Job
You were hired for your expertise. Somewhere along the way, a second job appeared — unpaid, untitled, and nowhere in the job description. This guide is the companion to S1 E15 of Brave Proximity, where Marissa Green and Susan Page name the managing-up trap for what it is: invisible emotional labor dressed up as professional competence. Use it to score your current load, get the scripts, and decide what you want to do about it.
What’s inside
The Invisible Tax Diagnostic
1
Three checkpoints to score your managing-up load — from professional navigation to unpaid emotional labor. Find out whether the invisible work you're doing is being credited, compensated, or acknowledged at all.
The Brave Feedback Scripts
2
Three word-for-word scripts for the most common managing-up scenarios — each designed to replace the ego-wrapped, softened version with direct, honest upward feedback that actually has a chance of landing.
The Feedback Culture Canvas
3
A three-phase self-audit worksheet: name the current dynamic, audit the direction feedback flows, and write the honest two-sentence decision brief about what you want to do next.
The Executive Cheat Sheet
4
Three non-negotiable rules for leaders who want their team to stop managing them and start genuinely partnering with them — the Expensive Assistant Rule, the Control Trap, and the Honesty Standard.