How to Appease Your Boss-God

Editor's note: Welcome to our new weekly column on business etiquette. If you have a pressing question for Miss Conduct, please send her an email.

In recent articles, Miss Conduct discussed the business etiquette of how to treat people as if they were your bosses, then gave an overview of how to treat your real bosses as if they were gods.

So now it's time to look at business etiquette where the rubber meets the road -- or where the sacrifice hits the altar, in this case.

How do you get your boss to be aligned with your goals, for instance? Indeed, how do you get your boss to do anything? ...