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Our society has a difficult time talking about power. You're better able to get actionable advice from experienced people in an intimate setting, like a classro

Our society has a difficult time talking about power. You're better able to get actionable advice from experienced people in an intimate setting, like a classroom, than you will be able to from books. Which is why an MBA may work better in this regard. A good way to learn is to pay close attention to the way managers talk about it. Movies like Office Space and The Office cut close at the truth, but don't quite get you there. They're dramatizations, moving at the speed of narrative, whereas real situations move at the speed of conversation. One of the key things to remember is that qualifications have very, very little to do with it. The main thing they're looking for is for other people to like you. "Like you" is manager-speak for the sort of respect that will get them to take you seriously as a manager. If you ask them to do something, will they do it? Even if it has nothing to do with their job duties? That's a quality of a good manager. Second, they need to need your services and they need to get it at the right price. They once tapped me to hire a junior engineer under me. I could not find anyone willing to work for the prices they wanted to pay, so I couldn't move up. Eventually they decided to switch technology stacks rather than acquire human capital. During these talks, it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it with the benefit of hindsight, there are aspects of that experience that clearly show why there's so much coded language around this process and how I screwed things up by not understanding the language and expectations beforehand. I regret nothing, as I've got way better options than middle management at a non-technical firm.

restalis 11y ago
"it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying." I wonder if that is only a personal conclusion (about the very existence of the mentioned manager's secret social play to not be confirmed by other of your fellow managers), if that is something real but limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about. It would be extremely useful to get more bits if it's the later.
- ucaetano 11y ago
  "limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about" Having worked in multiple companies across multiple industries from multiple countries, and in multiple countries, I'd say it's more of the country/company/industry than an universal culture. Management culture changes A LOT between industries, countries and companies. The way results are reported in a Mexican company is extremely different from an American company, just like human interactions are very different. In Mexican companies management is far more indirect, but hierarchical, than in American companies. Communication is also far more indirect, there's a very strong "saving face component". The more a career is related to human interactions, the more it changes depending on the culture of the country, industry and company. Finance tends to be much more uniform across borders and companies than sales, for example. Tech companies and careers enjoy something almost unique: there's more uniformity across industries and countries than almost any other industry/career. It might be because it is a recent development that spread quickly with its own culture, unlike management, which grew organically and slowly in most countries.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  Well, think about power. What distinguishes power? One distinguishing factor is that lots of people want it, very few people can actually have it. The people that have it have to protect it, otherwise it will be taken from them. Power in a marketplace, power in a workplace. You have to protect what you have. That's the primary reason behind coded language. You can't just come out and say what you want, because otherwise people will have all kinds of opinions about it. When you have power, what you do with that power is something everybody else is going to be concerned with.

restalis 11y ago

"it was all I could do to keep up with the hidden meanings behind the things they were saying." I wonder if that is only a personal conclusion (about the very existence of the mentioned manager's secret social play to not be confirmed by other of your fellow managers), if that is something real but limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about. It would be extremely useful to get more bits if it's the later.

ucaetano 11y ago
"limited to the circle of the company you were employed (so the manager's secret play being nothing but a part of company's culture), or if that is something (almost) universal that is worth writing more about" Having worked in multiple companies across multiple industries from multiple countries, and in multiple countries, I'd say it's more of the country/company/industry than an universal culture. Management culture changes A LOT between industries, countries and companies. The way results are reported in a Mexican company is extremely different from an American company, just like human interactions are very different. In Mexican companies management is far more indirect, but hierarchical, than in American companies. Communication is also far more indirect, there's a very strong "saving face component". The more a career is related to human interactions, the more it changes depending on the culture of the country, industry and company. Finance tends to be much more uniform across borders and companies than sales, for example. Tech companies and careers enjoy something almost unique: there's more uniformity across industries and countries than almost any other industry/career. It might be because it is a recent development that spread quickly with its own culture, unlike management, which grew organically and slowly in most countries.
vinceguidry 11y ago
Well, think about power. What distinguishes power? One distinguishing factor is that lots of people want it, very few people can actually have it. The people that have it have to protect it, otherwise it will be taken from them. Power in a marketplace, power in a workplace. You have to protect what you have. That's the primary reason behind coded language. You can't just come out and say what you want, because otherwise people will have all kinds of opinions about it. When you have power, what you do with that power is something everybody else is going to be concerned with.