In a recent issue of Strategy+Business magazine, author and leadership trainer Marshall Goldsmith exposed a dirty little secret of the workplace: Flattery - i.e., sucking up - works. We asked Goldsmith to share his thoughts with our brilliant, discerning readers (no sucking up intended). - Chris Tucker

How'd you get interested in the flattery phenomenon? I've looked at hundreds of feedback reports where people evaluate their bosses. The bosses always say they don't play favorites, but their employees say they do. Bosses respond to sucking up.

Flattery is everywhere in business, but seldom is it discussed openly. Right. Employee evaluations always say, "reaches out across the company" or "builds synergy." Nobody ever says, "effectively fawns over higher management." Every leader says they hate suck-ups, but many of them create an environment where people learn to suck up.

What's the real-world effect of sucking up? It's bad for the company. If you're a stockholder or a customer, do you want people to devote all their energy and time to playing games like this? And employees who don't suck up will get disgruntled if they see suck-ups getting ahead.

You say hollow praise makes hollow leaders. How so? If we're not careful, we end up with shallow, superficial game playing, rather than the reality we need.

How can managers avoid this trap? The best way to get out of the trap is to realize you can fall into it.

Do lots of people suck up to you? No, but I'm not powerful. Why would you suck up to me? I don't control your life. The sucking up starts when you control lots of lives and money and status.