Pushing ahead in a career often means pushing back against unreasonable demands and expectations, expert says. Paul Goldenberg wanted to advance to the executive ranks of his employer but found himself getting mired ever deeper in middle management. The problem: As strategic manager for a U.S.-based franchising company, “my bosses delivered daily ultimatums like Moses from the mountaintop,” he says. But their expectations for performance and business growth were not realistic for him to achieve with the time and staff he had available, he says. So, rather than being able to argue that his performance qualified him for an executive job, he was always having to explain why he wasn’t meeting his goals, Mr. Goldenberg recalls.
