You Did It
There you are, sitting at the regular Monday powwow, happy as morning dew, sipping your macadamia-nut coffee, when suddenly all eyes turn to you. The senior VP for operations has asked why the critical new warehouse isn't open, and your boss (who told you to shelve that project), shoves an apple in your mouth and serves you up as the sacrificial sucker.

Game analysis:
"The insecure boss can't admit he's imperfect, and therefore can't admit to errors. So when errors do occur, he needs to point a finger. It's that simple," says Alan Weiss, Ph.D., president of Rhode Island-based Summit Consulting Group, and author of Our Emperors Have No Clothes. Of course, if the finger lands on you, things can get rather complex.

How to play it:

• Take the bullet. You'll do more damage if you try to shift the blame to your boss. Your task is to minimize the bleeding. First calmly acknowledge the problem, being certain to drop the word "we" in a few times, to suggest that you weren't alone ("Yeah, we really missed the boat on this one."). This sends the subconscious signal flying around the room that your department, not just you, screwed up. And who's in charge of your department? Right, him.
  
  
• Solve the problem. Show everyone in attendance what a solution-focused being you are, by talking up all the things that you (no longer a need for "we") will do to tackle the problem.
  
  
• Collect the IOU. Once the storm has passed, say something to your boss like, "Hey, Jack, glad I could help out." You're serving a reminder that, by taking a hit for him, you delivered--and you expect it returned.
  
  
• Practice defensive penmanship. "God created the cover-your-ass memo to deal with the finger-pointing boss," says Michael Mercer, an industrial psychologist with the Mercer Group, Inc., in Barrington , Illinois . Having the boss's orders on paper may be enough to intimidate him into no longer trying to frame you. And if the constant finger-pointing puts your career on the line, these CYA memos in your back pocket may act like Teflon--and keep you from sticking to the frying pan.