There’s a scene in Band of Brothers where Major Dick Winters is told to order his men on a night reconnaissance across a river.

He knows it won’t be a surprise. He knows there will be casualties. He also knows it’s pointless.

So he does what great mid-level managers have done forever: he gives the order in a way that makes it clear that doesn’t want them to do it.

I had a boss once who had mastered the same tactic.

When assigning unnecessary work that came down from senior management, he would say: “I expect to see the appearance of rigor.”

THE APPEARANCE OF RIGOR!

What a great expression!

The manager was saying do the job, but not really. We should get it done with as little collateral damage to other projects as possible.

The assignment was clear, without being explicitly negative or seditious.

Mid-level managers don’t get much love. They are unappreciated from above and underappreciated from below.

They do, however, hold things together. Elon Musk fired all the mid-level people at Twitter and now no one answers the phones or pays the bills.

Demanding “the appearance of rigor” was a professional, yet empathetic way of indicating that sometimes work that shouldn’t be done has to get done.

That same manager taught me another valuable lesson about how to limit the corrosive effects of gossip and office politics.

As soon as anyone started to dish or whine, the person would hold up their hand and say: “Don’t bring me down.”

It was a lighthearted way to draw a boundary. They were saying that they weren’t going to be part of anything that was depressing and counterproductive.

Telling people not to gossip is unlikely to be effective. Refusing to listen, however, removes that oxygen from the room.

Just to be clear, good managers should be receptive to any legitimate workplace complaint. But usually, the difference between a serious issue and scuttlebutt is clear.

Only after I left my office job did I realize how much time I had wasted complaining and entertaining complaints from others.

It felt important at the time to know this or that was going to happen or so and so was on the way up or on the way out. Only later, do you realize it gets you nowhere.

I work for myself these days, mostly alone. That keeps a lid on gossip.

For anyone in a similar situation, Twitter is always an option.

Just don’t try to call or email them. They won’t answer.

(Part of a series of lessons I learned from three decades working at Bloomberg LP)