To shift your thinking from malicious to benign envy, try these phrases:

• “I’m inspired by _____. Maybe I can learn from them, or ask them to be my mentor.”

• “I haven’t done what they’ve done . . . yet.”

• “Every person is on their own journey. I’m grateful for mine.”

At every company, how management thinks things get done and how they actually get done are two different things. 

But while managers often have good reasons for pushing certain processes or products, sometimes they simply haven’t thought of the more efficient method.

Being authentic and sincere is only possible if we grow ourselves through learning, which happens when we do things we aren’t very comfortable with.

We have to move out of the comfort zone we have created in our existing job roles and take the approach of self-authoring, b...