The Boss's Boss Objective
Don't learn what your manager wants — learn what your manager's manager needs.
Wayne Clarke's first-ever boss gave him career advice that he has repeated to every new starter since: do not understand your boss's objectives — understand your boss's boss's objectives. If you help your manager win, you win. This is not flattery or politics; it is a structural insight about how decisions are actually made.
In most organisations, a line manager cannot approve a significant pay rise alone. They must take it upward, which means they need a case to present to their own manager. If you give your manager nothing concrete to hold up — no documented outcomes, no link to senior priorities — even a sympathetic manager fails you at the crucial moment. But if you have shaped your contribution around what the layer above your manager cares about, your manager can present your case in their own terms, not just as advocacy for a person they like.
This also changes how you frame the pay-rise conversation itself. You are not asking your manager to do you a favour; you are showing them how approving your request makes them look good to their own manager. Clarke points out that his early boss would sometimes claim credit for a junior's sale — and his advice was: let it happen. The manager remembers who made them look good, and that memory compounds.
- Your manager is not the decision-maker for your pay — they are the advocate. Design your case for the real decision-maker.
- Making your manager look good in front of their manager is more valuable than being technically correct in a room they control.
- Credit given generously in the short term compounds into trust and sponsorship in the long term.
- The person approving your pay rise is solving an organisational problem, not rewarding individual effort — frame your ask as part of the solution.
- Understanding the layer above requires active effort; it does not happen by accident or seniority.
- Map the decision chain for your pay riseBefore preparing anything else, identify who actually approves a pay increase of the size you want. In most organisations that is not your direct manager — it goes to a pay committee, a department head, or a director. Name that person or group.Pro tipIf you do not know how pay decisions are made, a discreet conversation with someone in HR or a trusted senior colleague can clarify the chain without signalling your intent.
- Identify what your manager's manager is measured onFind the public or semi-public objectives of the person one or two levels above you: a strategy document, a town hall recording, a LinkedIn post. Understand their KPIs, their known problems, and their visible priorities.Pro tipIf none of this is public, ask your manager directly: 'What does [director's name] most want this team to achieve this year?' Most managers will answer — and will notice that you asked.WarningDo not approach the senior leader directly without your manager's knowledge unless you have established a relationship. Bypassing the layer creates political risk that undermines the very case you are building.
- Link your value-adds to senior prioritiesReframe the contributions you are building in the six-month plan so that they connect explicitly to what the layer above your manager cares about. 'I reduced customer complaints in my zone' is good; 'I reduced customer complaints in my zone, which directly supports the director's Q2 retention target' is armour-grade.Pro tipClarke's example: if your manager has a difficult relationship with another team, and you propose to improve that relationship as part of your value build, you are solving a pain point your manager has to explain upward every quarter — that is a gift.
- Make the conversation easy for your manager to repeatWhen you present your case, structure it so your manager can relay the headline in two sentences to their manager without losing anything. Complexity dies in the relay. Give them a single clear narrative: 'Wayne delivered X, which supported Y, and 10% is what a market comparable would cost us to replace him.'Pro tipOffer to write a short summary document your manager can use internally. Framing it as saving them effort rather than staging a lobbying campaign is the right tone.
Clarke joined an organisation and, one month in, told the CEO directly: 'My job is to improve engagement and communication in the company — I cannot do that hearing your priorities third-hand.' He secured a monthly meeting with the CEO even though his own manager did not have one.
Clarke's boss at Arthur Anderson told him explicitly: understand your boss's boss's objectives, not your boss's. If you help me win, you win. Clarke repeated this instruction to every new starter he subsequently managed.
Clarke describes situations where a sales manager would claim credit for a junior's sale or win in front of senior leadership. His advice to junior team members was to let it happen rather than correct it publicly.
Clarke attributes this insight directly to his first boss at Arthur Anderson/Deloitte, received when Clarke was 22 or 23. He describes it as one of the clearest and most actionable pieces of career advice he ever received, so durable that he has repeated it as a standard instruction to new starters ever since. It also shaped his consulting work: when Clarke talks to managers about how to position themselves in the organisation, the same logic applies — identify what matters to the person two levels up before designing your team's priorities.