Managing Up with Cristina Miller

Speaker 1: Welcome to the Daily Bolster. Each day we welcome transformational executives to share their real world experiences and practical advice about scaling yourself, your team, and your business.

Matt Blumberg: I'm Matt Blumberg, I'm founder and CEO of Bolster, and I am excited to be here today with Cristina Miller. Cristina is the chief operating officer of food e- commerce marketplace, GoldBelly. Prior to that, she was chief commercial officer at 1stDibs, which is an antique marketplace. Lots of experience in e- commerce and marketplaces over the years at lots of different companies. Cristina is also a member of our board of directors at Bolster. Welcome to the Daily Bolster, Cristina.

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Thanks, Matt. Thanks for having me on.

Matt Blumberg: Yeah. So, our topic today is managing up, and which I think is a really interesting topic, and I think executives, the CXO role is a really interesting position because sometimes you're managing up, sometimes you're managing down, you're kind of in the middle. So, I'd love to hear how you think about your role specifically when it comes to managing up.

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Sure. It's a great question. Something that I'm always thinking about, up and down. But, on the upside, I think working closely with a CEO is so much about your relationship with that person, and in many ways... I mean, that's a lot of what we do at Bolster is explore and build relationships, so I know you're very familiar with that, and I think it's really critical just to have kind of a framework or ground rules for relationship, and so I have found that probably the number one thing that works for managing up, it's also related to managing down, but there's a different power dynamic there. Is having an underpinning relationship with your CEO that has some understanding of how that interaction between you guys is going to go.

Matt Blumberg: Do you think about that sort of tactically meaning like you have whatever cadence and frequency of meetings, and whatever document or agenda governs that, or are you thinking about something that's more relationship- oriented, or both?

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: I think both. But, I think it's sort of like if you sort of layer on or ladder up what's important, I would say the foundation is more of a human relationship, and understanding how you guys work and operate and think, and so I know there are all kinds of tests and quizzes you can do out there that kind of tell you what kind of a thinker you are, what kind of an operator you are, and I don't know that you necessarily need to do one of those, and I've actually, I think I've done those once in my career with the management team, Even when I haven't, you kind of know what those things are getting at, which is, " How does this person think? How do you think? How are those things going to mesh in a way that's productive for the business?" So, I would say number one is a relationship, and then I think it's also very helpful to have the building blocks on top of that of what is your week going to look like? What reports are you looking at? We can go into that a little bit more. But, I really think the relationship piece is so important, and then talking about knowing if you think differently, and acknowledging that, and then talking about how you're going to bridge those gaps, or what way you're going to communicate.

Matt Blumberg: What do you do if you have a CEO that's not into that, right? So, I get, yes, if you and I work together, I'm on the same page with you. How do you approach that relationship if you have a different kind of CEO that doesn't think like that?

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Yeah, well, I think I have some experience with that as well, and I would say, in my opinion, you just do your version of it because, frankly, you do you, and you adjust a little bit, because I think one way it works is where there's acknowledgement on both sides that, " Oh, you think this way, and I think that way, and we're going to come together and do it this way." But, actually one person can do that consciously and it can be sort of unconscious for the other person, and so if you know you're adapting to certain things. I think that's one of the things that can make someone more successful in a workplace at any level is being able to adapt to... Is read the room, really at the end of the day. But, you have to be comfortable doing that, and adapting, what you know your own strengths are, a little bit to fit what you believe the other person's strengths and weaknesses are, and you might not be as right, it might not be as good as if you both do it, but I think you can get pretty far that way.

Matt Blumberg: So, let me ask you a couple specific examples around managing up. So, how do you deliver bad news?

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Very directly in my case.

Matt Blumberg: Early and often or?

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Early. Hopefully it's not often. If it needs to be, then yes. So, early and often. Hopefully it's not often. But, early and directly, not the... I don't know if we're allowed to use certain language on this wonderful podcast, but there's a certain sandwich, we don't do the shit sandwich. That's not my style. I think, generally, that's been proven. It used to be, when I was being trained 20 years ago, that was a thing. Talk about something good then talk about something bad, then kind of... I don't think people recommend that anymore, and I personally don't. So, I would say bad news is, " Hey, I want to talk to you. I have something that's not great. Let's find a time." Or you find that time and then you say it. And you come out with it, that's what I do. I think the more direct the better, and then if there is good news, great. Talk about the good news, but don't just say the bad news and kind of run to the next thing.

Matt Blumberg: Right. Okay. Last question. Super quick hit. One piece of advice for your fellow CXOs around managing up.

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Okay. Be direct. I think that's my biggest piece of advice. Understand that relationship and be direct, because why not? Life's too short.

Matt Blumberg: Life is too short. All right, Cristina, thank you for joining the Daily Bolster, managing up with Cristina Miller.

Cristina Gutierrez-Huete Miller: Thanks, Matt.