I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop with a senior coworker, and it just... hasn't.

By @gabekay · Work

When I was assigned to a high-stakes project with a senior director known for being incredibly tough and direct, I was genuinely terrified. I updated my resume and started bracing for impact, assuming I'd be torn to shreds.

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Our department is one of those classic 'up or out' corporate environments, and this director has a reputation for being a kingmaker or a career-ender. No in-between. Every story I'd heard was about her grilling people in meetings or shutting down ideas with a single sentence. So when my manager told me I'd be her second-in-command on the biggest Q3 initiative, my stomach just sank. The first week, I barely spoke. I just took notes and tried to be invisible. But then a strange thing happened. We were working late on the initial stakeholder deck, and she asked for my actual opinion, not just my help with the slides. I mumbled something, and she pushed back, but not in a mean way. It was more like she was coaching me. 'That's a good starting point, but what's the risk? Sell me on why this is better than the alternative.' The next day, in a huge meeting where I was just expecting to run the presentation, she specifically paused and said, 'I want to get my colleague's take on this, her analysis was critical here.' I nearly fell out of my chair. Since then, she's gone out of her way to include me, has given me incredibly sharp but fair feedback on my work, and has even shared a few 'unwritten rules' about navigating the leadership team here. It's not like we're best friends, but it's the most mentored I've ever felt. It broke my brain a little because I was so ready for a villain, but instead, I think I got a sponsor. It's just a really nice, wholesome surprise in a job that can be pretty cutthroat.

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