The Surgery is Open: The New Boss

Dear Surgery.
I'm going to be reporting to a new VP imminently. How do I get off on the right foot with a new boss?  They will be coming into a new organisation and I've been there ten years. in particular:
-What to look out for?
-How to be?
-Tips for beginning a positive and stable (and long) working relationship?

Great question and one which touches a situation we have all been in and will certainly be in again. A few thoughts:
1. Most new bosses want to 'make their mark', so they will be looking to do something new/implement a change.. Help them do this constructively. There is a temptation to want 'no change' for comfort or because everything seems perfect. No-there is something which could do with a bit of kaizen. Identify it and feed it to the new boss.
2. Suggest you have a process conversation i.e a converstaion which is about getting to know each other and agreeing ways of working. Often we go into 'content' conversation far too quickly and then the problems occur.
3. Be yourself; if you can't, you can't be the best version of you and that means ultimately you will not be happy in a role.
4. This is fantastic opportunity to practise Steven Covey's Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. It has been said that it is the deepest human desire to be understood.

I hope those help. Thanks for visiting the surgery.