Misplaced Focus

So what's really the problem with kissing up and kicking down? Besides the fact that it's just generally nasty unpleasant behaviour, from a management efficiency and productivity standpoint, the real problem is you're spending energy in the wrong place.

You're not spending time on improving the performance of your team (which is beneficial to the broader organization) so much as you're focused on pleasing one person (which may benefit you but creates minimal value for the broader organization).