This Is Not A Perfect World, So There Are Many Opportunities To Improve. So, Improve.

In the Navy Reserve I once had a boss (leader) who just disliked me and was not shy about reminding me that he disliked me. He also bragged in advance that he was going to give me a poor performance review. Obviously, this was very discouraging, but instead of wallowing in the unfair situation and acting like a victim, I developed a strategy. I gathered information on possible projects or opportunities that I could correct or improve. Many of them had been neglected for years. I decided to identify and complete three projects that no one had ever done before in the history of the Navy Reserve. The improvements I discovered could be tracked with metrics and monitored. These were very tough and time-consuming projects, but I completed them before my performance review. 

For the performance review an individual is always asked to submit their accomplishments.  So, I submitted the three projects. At first, my boss did not want to include them, but I said that I would exercise my right to add a supplement to my performance review, that would include the projects. He relented and included the projects in my performance review. The word of me completing these projects soon spread across the entire command and other parts of the Navy Reserve. My boss did write the performance review but his less than stellar words about me just did not match or align with the accomplishments of the ground-breaking projects.

An Admiral then invited me to speak at his conference. Later by luck, the same Admiral was appointed the head of the promotion board that promoted me to Captain. I like to think that my presentation on the project helped clarify his judgement about me. When you get a bad leader, never let it discourage you from doing your very best. This is not a perfect world, so there are many opportunities to improve, so improve.