Can You Be Friends With Bigwigs?
What to consider when you try to network with your boss's boss. Plus, skills the ideal CIO candidate should have, the advantages of being fired, and more on revealing your true age at work.
By Anne Fisher, FORTUNE senior writer

Dear Annie: I have a question I've never seen in your column or anywhere else, and I wonder what you (and your readers) think about it. I want to network with higher-ups at my company -- my boss's boss and other high-ranking people -- in part because I think it would help keep me in the loop on office politics so I don't get blindsided. I'd rather not depend on my boss for this kind of information. But is there a politically correct way to do this kind of networking, or will it backfire on me? -- Ad Astra

Dear Ad Astra: This is going to be tricky. The only way I've ever seen it work out well is in cases where the underling has a genuine common interest with someone farther up the totem pole. (In the first job I ever had, both a peer of mine and a very senior editor were avid Civil War re-enactors, but that was an extreme case.) If you play racquetball and your boss's boss does too, you could try finding an opportunity to talk about that, and maybe challenge him (or her) to a game. Or if some bigwig you'd like to befriend is active in a charity or a community project, get involved in it yourself. But please: Be sincere. If you're only spending Saturdays pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity so you can schmooze with Mr. Big, he's going to figure that out pretty quickly. Readers, what say you? Ever formed a friendship with someone over your boss's head? How did it work out? Send me your tales and I'll pass them along in a future column.

Dear Annie: Please settle an argument. My goal is to be chief information officer, either at the company where I work now or somewhere else. Toward that end, I'm updating all my certifications and getting as much technical training as I can. A friend of mine tells me I should take some finance courses as well. I don't see what finance (which I know nothing about) has to do with me. Is he right? -- Java Man

Dear Java: Your friend must be reading CIO magazine (http://www.cio.com). The April 1, 2005 issue of that trade publication, for and about chief information officers (check it out), ran a special feature entitled "Wanted: The Best CIO," in which several experts gave their views on what skills CIOs need to succeed now. The consensus? Beyond your technical smarts, you'll need "demonstrated financial and accounting acumen" -- partly so that you can "articulate the case for IT investments" in terms that number-crunchers will embrace. And that's not all: Your people skills had better be pretty sharp, too, including "the capacity for motivating IT employees"; the ability to provide coaching, teaching, and mentoring skills; and "a track record of hiring, developing, and retaining critical talent." Whew. You've got your work cut out for you.

Dear Annie: If I'm in a situation where I've made a mistake that may ultimately cost me my job, should I take action now and walk away from the company first, or wait for them to fire me? Which is better when seeking future employment? If I walk away, should I still give two weeks' notice, or quit on the spot? -- Sorry in Sacramento

Dear Sorry: Well, quitting always looks better to future employers than having been fired. But it also disqualifies you for unemployment benefits in most states (a notable exception being Texas), so your best bet is not to quit until you've lined up another job. Yes, you should still give two weeks' notice, as a courtesy, if you possibly can. In the immortal words of Mick Jagger: "I'm gonna leave while it's still fun/I'm gonna walk before they make me run."

Remember the person who wrote to me several weeks ago, asking if it would really be such a big deal to put a false date of birth on the paperwork for a new job? (To read my answer, see "Do I Have to Admit My Real Age at Work".) One further observation about that: According to a background-checking company called InfoLink Screening Services, a common ruse these days among shady job applicants is giving a false date of birth, in hopes that employers won't be able to track down accurate motor-vehicle-department and court records. One such job seeker, the folks at InfoLink say, turned out to have eight -- count 'em, eight -- criminal convictions in her past, including a felony rap for forgery. The moral of the story: Don't parse the truth. Some job candidates, like my correspondent, may be tempted to fib about their ages for some innocent reason (usually harmless vanity, perfectly understandable in our youth-obsessed culture). But with the increasingly sophisticated background-screening tools that companies are using these days, a false date of birth can make you look like a crook-and make an employer wonder what you're really trying to hide. Just a word to the wise...

Next: Do I Have to Admit My Real Age at Work?

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.