My group recently got a new boss who turned out to be someone I used to work with at a previous job. For a variety of personal and other reasons, I didn't do particularly well at that other job. Should I bring that up with her, or just put my head down and show her that I can do a good job now?

Don't mention it. Your task with a new boss or within a new company is to protect and project your brand. Any discussion of poor performance in the past diminishes that brand, and opens things up to subjective interpretations of why you didn't do well, who thought you didn't do well, etc. You also don't want to bring up details about your inability to perform tasks that may still be required at your current job.

If your past experience does come up, focus on how your new job and your new company is a much better fit for you and your skill set. Any detailed discussion of the past should have the most positive reflection on your present strength, so ideally you should have a ready answer about what you learned or how you turned the mistake into an asset.

But you could also pull a little C.Y.A. by marshaling your own supporters at your current company to talk to your new boss about how well you've been doing there. The idea is to not just sit back and let events unfold, but to tilt them in your favor where possible.

Dr. Ron Brown is a leading expert in the fields of leadership development and organizational change. He is the founder and president of Banks Brown, a management consulting firm that specializes in providing skills to optimize the performance of leaders and organizations. He can be reached at rbrown@banksbrown.com and 415-788-5444.