Managing Up by Melody Wilding is one of those career books that immediately feels like it’s speaking to you if you've ever felt sidelined, micromanaged, or unsure how to communicate with your boss. It’s packed with super practical, step-by-step advice for navigating tricky office dynamics and giving you more control over your career—even if you’re not in a leadership position. Wilding’s approach is both grounded in solid research and full of real-world examples, offering tangible conversations you can have to get your work noticed, set boundaries with ease, and build trust without stepping on toes.

Whether it’s negotiating your salary, aligning with your boss’s needs, or saying no to extra work with confidence, this book gives you tools to succeed while being true to yourself. Wilding doesn’t just tell you what to do; she gives you scripts to navigate these situations smoothly, which is so refreshing and helps take the guesswork out of difficult conversations. If you're looking to level up your work life and feel more empowered, Managing Up is the kind of book that will keep you returning to its pages as new challenges arise.

Anyone with a job, especially knowledge workers, should add Melody Wilding’s book, “Managing Up,” to their reading list. This book is an incredibly useful guide to navigating power dynamics, building effective relationships with higher-ups, and earning more authority, freedom, and confidence.

Each chapter begins with thought bubbles that explore the anxieties, epiphanies, or lessons learned related to a particular conversation topic (like alignment or boundaries conversations). These thought bubbles are followed by a client story, which helps readers relate to the particular conversation to be explored.

The book can be read cover to cover or skipped to find what’s most interesting. However, I recommend reading all the chapters at some point, as they often offer perspectives that you may not need now but will find useful in the future.

You’ll also find scripts (Melody encourages you to steal them) that can help you advocate for yourself in various conversations, such as networking, visibility, and advancement conversations. Since conversations are a part of every job, “Managing Up” serves as a great reference to come back to when you need guidance.

Reading this book will help you navigate various dynamics at work with much more confidence. It’s likely that your self-image will change in a positive way after reading it. There are many things to highlight and contemplate in terms of how to implement the advice in the book.

Thanks to Crown Publishing for providing a copy via NetGalley.