"The biggest red flag for me is when I hear people on a manager’s team, especially their subordinates, saying they sent the guy an e-mail and they’ve been waiting a week for an answer. That to me is intolerable. There has to be prioritization, but there’s no excuse for a manager to not be as responsive to people on their own team as they are to me."
Ryu is a firm believer that no matter what position you hold in a company everyone deserves equal treatment. If your manager or boss ignores your emails and requests, but is extra attentive when it comes to their superior, Ryu says that is a bad sign. No company should look to hire or keep someone in the team who isn't going to give everyone the attention they deserve. This will end up having a negative impact on employees and will ultimately create a hostile work environment. Ryu's rule of thumb is to treat your employees the same way you would treat the CEO.
"The thing I most dislike in an employee is two-facedness, where they manage up in a very diplomatic and collegial fashion, but they’re a tyrant down. That’s a very common duality that you see in the business world, and it’s pernicious because you may not realize the problem for a long time. One of the great dangers for people in my kind of role is that people are always so deferential to you. They’re always so solicitous and careful about your needs that you may get the false impression that this is just the way they are, when in fact they may be just doing that only in this very narrow context, and they are indifferent elsewhere."
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