I respect my leader a lot because I can observe and learn from his behaviour to build my own leadership skills. He is level headed, objective, emotionally intelligent and more. In recent months I have brought up the topic of my career progression again and again, just to keep it on his radar and make sure there is no misunderstanding (bad experience I had with a previous bully boss).
So, this week I called him as he was traveling overseas to discuss this and that, including my dissatisfaction with my current situation. I tell him as it is and then he answers, referring to my comments. Right after that however, he diverts from the subject - and he always does it in the same way: he says what he is up to for the rest of the day, then next week and the week after, that he will be off work then but that I can always contact him by text message. He does this on many occasions when he just wants to move away from a subject. He gets me to move away from a frustrating, yet important for me, subject and makes me feel important and appreciated in the end just by saying I can contact him at any time, even during his holiday.
Only now after several months I can see the pattern. On the one hand I sometimes feel fooled because he can manage any conversation very skilfully, while on the other hand I admire him for this and almost feel privileged to be able to work with him.
