Rant . . . Politicking People Off
Aw shiznit . . . I never wanted to write about professional stuff on this blog, but I have to rant about playing office politics.
For those of you who have superiors in the workplace (and I know most of you do), be careful on how you handle communications not only with each other, but with your direct superiors and those above them. I know that in any workplace it will never be a meritocracy. You can work your ass off and never be noticed in the company. This is a case when it's ok to use "office politics" just to get yourself noticed. However, when you mainly (or only) use politics to get ahead, your in for a tough fuckin' ride.
What brought my attention to this? I was a witness to a situation where a colleague of mine overstepped their immediate superior to try and get "brownie" points. This was not an single incident but happened multiple times. For example, this person would email their direct superior's superior (i.e. manager's manager - e.x. the General Manager instead of their Department Manager) and let them know of issues occurring or any pertinent information not directly concerning the superior's superior. This person didn't even have the decency to CC: (courtesy copy) their superior just so that they know why they are directly contacting the superior's superior (apologize if this confuses you; if you have a suggestion of another way to word it, please let me know).
Well colleague, you ain't foolin' nobody. Those involved know that you're trying to gain brownie points, trying to overstep your boundaries showin' that you "potentially" know more than your direct superior. This is such a menial trick - not only email but any type of flattery by trying impress the people above by going over your superior. If you want to know how get ahead, read a damn book, like Machiavelli's The Prince and/or Sun Tzu's The Art of War. I'm telling you this to prevent you from looking foolish, not to prevent you from achieving your goals. If you wanna play this game, play it right, or you'll never get anywhere. Trust me, I was dumb and used to approach school (high school) like this. Yeah I got what I wanted because it was high school; but man, when I did this in college, did I get fuckin' burned - bad. I was playing the game with the wrong rules. Before you play the game, you've gotta know the rules. Once you know the rules, then you can begin to see how you can "bend" these rules to your favor. This applies to anything - playing basketball, writing software, developing an algorithm, picking up on girls, starting a business - even (I would say especially) moving up the proverbial corporate ladder.
Again, this is a rant, not an essay nor a debatable piece. Just my penny for your dime.
Don't screw yourself by screwing yourself.
For those of you who have superiors in the workplace (and I know most of you do), be careful on how you handle communications not only with each other, but with your direct superiors and those above them. I know that in any workplace it will never be a meritocracy. You can work your ass off and never be noticed in the company. This is a case when it's ok to use "office politics" just to get yourself noticed. However, when you mainly (or only) use politics to get ahead, your in for a tough fuckin' ride.
What brought my attention to this? I was a witness to a situation where a colleague of mine overstepped their immediate superior to try and get "brownie" points. This was not an single incident but happened multiple times. For example, this person would email their direct superior's superior (i.e. manager's manager - e.x. the General Manager instead of their Department Manager) and let them know of issues occurring or any pertinent information not directly concerning the superior's superior. This person didn't even have the decency to CC: (courtesy copy) their superior just so that they know why they are directly contacting the superior's superior (apologize if this confuses you; if you have a suggestion of another way to word it, please let me know).
Well colleague, you ain't foolin' nobody. Those involved know that you're trying to gain brownie points, trying to overstep your boundaries showin' that you "potentially" know more than your direct superior. This is such a menial trick - not only email but any type of flattery by trying impress the people above by going over your superior. If you want to know how get ahead, read a damn book, like Machiavelli's The Prince and/or Sun Tzu's The Art of War. I'm telling you this to prevent you from looking foolish, not to prevent you from achieving your goals. If you wanna play this game, play it right, or you'll never get anywhere. Trust me, I was dumb and used to approach school (high school) like this. Yeah I got what I wanted because it was high school; but man, when I did this in college, did I get fuckin' burned - bad. I was playing the game with the wrong rules. Before you play the game, you've gotta know the rules. Once you know the rules, then you can begin to see how you can "bend" these rules to your favor. This applies to anything - playing basketball, writing software, developing an algorithm, picking up on girls, starting a business - even (I would say especially) moving up the proverbial corporate ladder.
Again, this is a rant, not an essay nor a debatable piece. Just my penny for your dime.
Don't screw yourself by screwing yourself.
posted by Mikee at 5:02 PM
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