I'll bite, and take the counterpoint. Most people aren't grin fucking you because of some inherent moral instability. They're doing it because fighting you ove

I'll bite, and take the counterpoint. Most people aren't grin fucking you because of some inherent moral instability. They're doing it because fighting you over your idea that you're in love with isn't worth it to them. First example he gives, where Manager Bob is getting ignored -- what if the executive simply doesn't need or respect Bob's opinion? He doesn't need to prove to every non-exec that he thinks his idea is good. Unfortunate, but a fact of life in a hierarchical organization. I like to think of myself as direct and honest, but the overwhelming social norm (at least from what I've seen, on the East Coast of the US) is to pick your battles. If you push back on everything you disagree with, you surprise people and quickly pick up a reputation as argumentative. This is especially true if you engage on issues outside your area of expertise. Programmers telling accounting how to fund benefits? HR telling programmers which hours are "proper" to work? Organizational grunts telling execs which markets to expand into? Even if the outsider is right, it's not worth the time of the expert to fight it, and they'll smile, nod, and hope you go away quickly so they can continue being productive. By all means, you should stand up and call out the obvious bullshit, but the world is not black and white.