1) You have recently joined a company, Hailo, as an app development manager in the New York office. Use what you have learned to address the following challenges.

Another manager stopped by this morning with a request to borrow two of your best programmers for a three-week emergency. Under normal conditions, you wouldn't hesitate to help, but your team has its own scheduling challenges to deal with. Plus, this isn't the first time this manager has run into trouble, and you suspect that poor management is the reason. In a message, diplomatically state your refusal to help while suggesting that your colleague's management skills need to be improved.

2) You've found it easy to say yes to recommendation letter requests from former employees who were top performers, and you've learned to say no to those people who didn't perform so well. The requests you struggle with are from employees in the middle - people who didn't really excel but didn't really cause trouble either. You've just received a request from a computer systems specialist who falls smack in the middle of the middle. Unfortunately, he's applying for a job at a firm that you know places high demands on its employees and generally hires the best of the best. He's a great person, and you'd love to help, but in your heart, you know that if by some chance he does get the job, he probably won't last. Plus, you don't want to get a reputation in the industry for recommending weak candidates. Create sensitive but effective buffer that will help you set the stage for the negative news.

Make sure to cite at least one outside source to support your answers.