If you are an executive/team leader always get a subordinate to write the first draft of any work. This way you:

  1. Don’t have to do the boring/hard work.
  2. Avoid the mental fatigue, and loss of perspective/narrow focus of working on a single task for 8 hours.
  3. Avoid taking the risk of producing work that isn't 100%. 95% of the time a piece of work won’t be 100% perfectly aligned with what the boss wants, so 95% of the time the person producing it will look bad. Don't be that person.
  4. Get to look like the savior, in front of your boss, when you point out the 1 or 2 flaws in the work, and save the day when the work is presented in a meeting. You will not be mentally fatigued and have the benefit of perspective as opposed to the person who produced it.
  5. If the work is perfect, you can take it to your boss and benefit from the opposite of “never be the bearer of bad news”. Even though its not your work, it is your team, and your boss will subconsciously associate you with being the bearer of good news.

If you are the subordinate:

  1. Produce perfect work, and when you do, take it directly to your boss with a “technical question”.
  2. Don’t present it unfinished. Refuse to. Your supervisor will try to get you to reveal it half finished in front of the boss so they can “fix it”.