Things are awesome at work until that dreadful day your boss (with whom you have an awesome relationship) tells you, “Hey, I’ve hired a new person who will be reporting to me, and you’ll now report to that person.” Just like that, you’ve officially been layered. And we all know getting layered is only good if we’re talking about cake.

Your head likely swirls at first, wondering why this happened. “Does the boss not like me anymore? Why didn’t the boss put me in that role instead of bringing in someone new? Are they bringing in the new person to replace me, and the next step is I’m getting fired? My team is going to lose respect for me, and I’ll lose influence in the organization.”

We have a tendency to go to negative and neurotic places. I know that—I’ve been layered before, as have many of my friends and colleagues. And I know many of you dread it, based on the recent SmartBrief on Leadership Pulse Survey I conducted: 42% of respondents said getting layered was more awkward than a peer becoming your boss or you becoming the boss of your peers.

 …