Most career advice treats "managing up" like office politics. In practice it's simpler and harder: one overloaded human cannot see your risks, blockers, or tradeoffs unless you put them where a tired brain can use them. Your Manager Can't Read Your Mind walks the scenes that actually blow up weeks: the cheerful status that hid a landmine, bad news delivered too late, three competing #1 priorities with nothing written down, the skip-level that felt brave and landed as ambush. Each chapter opens in the moment-Slack, 1:1, hallway-then shows the trap, then gives you speakable scripts: what to say, what not to say, and one drill to practice before the next 1:1. This is not a first-time manager book, not a performance-review workbook, and not a meeting-slaughter manifesto. It's field practice for individual contributors who want clean expectations without performing politics. Includes: weekly manager brief (5 bullets), bad-news openers, priority confirmation note, skip-level prep card.