Get a raise: 10 steps to getting your boss to think you're the best

Keep your boss happy. If your boss is happy with you, everybody will be happy. If your boss isn't happy with you, I don't care what else you're doing, you're going to have trouble.

The subordinate's job is not to reform the boss, not to reeducate the boss, not to make the boss confirm to what the business schools and the management books say bosses should be like… Does this individual need the information to be there when he gets to the office in the morning, or does this boss (as do a good many operating people) want it at the end of the day, say around 3:30 on Friday afternoon? [Managing for the Future]

Don't stay away. If you have a boss who doesn't reach out to you, or with whom you have uncomfortable interactions, you will have to reach out yourself… Get on your boss's calendar regularly. [The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter]

First of all you need to figure out what your boss actually wants. Many people assume they know how they're going to be evaluated and the criteria that other people in their organization are going to use, but unless you're a mind reader you probably would be well served to actually check that out.

Figure out what matters to your boss, and your boss's boss, and make that stuff matter to you, too, because you can only impress your boss with your management skill if you are accomplishing things she cares about. And be loud about your accomplishments. Set measurable goals for yourself and let people above you know that you're meeting them. [Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success]

The first Do is to realize that it is both the subordinate's duty and in the subordinate's self-interest to make the boss as effective and as achieving as possible. The best prescription for one's own success is to work for a boss who is going places. Thus the first Do is to go to the boss — at least once a year — and ask: "What do I do and what do my people do that helps you do your job? And what do we do that hampers you and makes life more difficult for you?" [Managing for the Future]

Make sure the boss understands what can be expected of you, what the objectives and goals are on which your own energies and those of your people will be concentrated, what your priorities are, and, equally important, what they are not. [Managing for the Future]

In general, people most easily partner with people who they feel are like them… You always want to look for anything that you might have in common with the powerful person — whether it's related to your organization's positions, issues, or even personal interests. [Influencing Up]

Never expose the boss to surprises. It is the job of the subordinate to protect the boss against surprises — even pleasant ones (if any such exist). To be exposed to a surprise in the organization one is responsible for is humiliation, and usually public humiliation. [Managing for the Future]

The closer you bring yourself into the appearance of alignment through your daily actions and choices, the more favorable the company's opinions of you will be, and the more secure your job will be… employees are being promoted who don't have the best skills and may even have to be taught how to do the job, at great expense and time, because they appear to be in alignment and the company feels they can be trusted over others. [Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know—and What to Do About Them]

… if bosses and colleagues have formed some unfavorable impression of you in your current setting, then find another one. Many people want to "prove" that others are wrong about them — and they may be. But it's a waste of precious time to fight that uphill battle. Why make heroic efforts to dig out of a hole when the same energy spent elsewhere could make you a star?