One of the primary responsiblities as you climb the hierarchy is to protect your team / teams / departments from maniacs in other places fo the hierarchy. That

One of the primary responsiblities as you climb the hierarchy is to protect your team / teams / departments from maniacs in other places fo the hierarchy. That means standing up and saying "No" and sticking to it. Overtime it will show that your people perform better than others since they have a sane person ensuring that they are not on death marches to failure. Or it can mean losing your job, in some instances. What would you rather do? Kill your team by imposing impossivle tasks, due to pressure form the top in order to climb higher in the hierarchy or at least maintain,. Or be straight and honest, and if nescessary take one for the team-+