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In the business world, situations with a certain amount ambiguity arise where people with conflicting goals must confront each other to determine the path forwa

In the business world, situations with a certain amount ambiguity arise where people with conflicting goals must confront each other to determine the path forward: resource allocation, strategic direction, etc. When the other party, through force of personality, pushes an agenda that's good for them but not for the business as a whole, you quickly decide that you must learn their tricks. Not to use these tricks all the time, but to use them when you need to. You might be assuming that disagreements are settled with logic and data; in practice that's not really true. Think of it like running an advertising campaign. You put on whatever show tweaks the target audiences' neurons and convinces them to do what you want them to do. If you don't learn these tricks, your competitors will.

lsc 16y ago
>When the other party, through force of personality, pushes an agenda that's good for them but not for the business as a whole, you quickly decide that you must learn their tricks. While I agree that this is the reality of the situation, it seems incredibly broken to me.
- philwelch 16y ago
  That's humanity for you.
  - yters 16y ago
    It's why we have a military even though war is bad.
    - lsc 16y ago
      it seems more like a management problem to me. I mean, if I had someone working for me who bullied my other employees into doing things that harmed the company, I'd tell the guy to knock it off, and if he continued, I'd fire him (or her... I don't think this is a gender-specific problem.) The problem is that in most companies, the people who own the place, who feel the actual profit and loss are so far removed from any decision making that all you have left is the personality of middle managers trying to advance personal goals.
      - tome 16y ago
        it seems more like a management problem to me. I mean, if I had someone working for me who bullied my other employees into doing things that harmed the company, I'd tell the guy to knock it off Unless he managed to convince you that he was actually helping.
        lsc 16y ago
        >Unless he managed to convince you that he was actually helping. Eh, in smaller companies, the truth usually comes out sooner rather than later. If the owner doesn't recognize the problem fast enough, the company dies. That, and as the owner, I'm very directly concerned with the health of the company, and I'm involved with day to day operations. In a publicly traded company, the people who are directly concerned with the health of the company at best come to a meeting once a year. Yeah, you can pay other people to look out for your interests, and sometimes that's even a good idea. But you are a fool if you think those people will put your interests above their own. I'm trying to say that as the owner, you'd have to fool me. Possible, sure. But I'm going to work damn hard to prevent you from doing so. In a public company, however, you don't need to fool your bosses; you just need to convince them that supporting you furthers their own goals better than firing you would.
      - yters 16y ago
        You also have the problem of clever bullies who know how to play management.
SkyMarshal 16y ago
"Not to use these tricks all the time, but to use them when you need to." Or so you can recognize when they are being used, disarm them, neutralize your adversary, and steer the process toward understanding the big picture, defining the underlying problem/s, and collaboratively making the best decision for the business as a whole.

lsc 16y ago

>When the other party, through force of personality, pushes an agenda that's good for them but not for the business as a whole, you quickly decide that you must learn their tricks. While I agree that this is the reality of the situation, it seems incredibly broken to me.

philwelch 16y ago
That's humanity for you.
- yters 16y ago
  It's why we have a military even though war is bad.
  - lsc 16y ago
    it seems more like a management problem to me. I mean, if I had someone working for me who bullied my other employees into doing things that harmed the company, I'd tell the guy to knock it off, and if he continued, I'd fire him (or her... I don't think this is a gender-specific problem.) The problem is that in most companies, the people who own the place, who feel the actual profit and loss are so far removed from any decision making that all you have left is the personality of middle managers trying to advance personal goals.
    - tome 16y ago
      it seems more like a management problem to me. I mean, if I had someone working for me who bullied my other employees into doing things that harmed the company, I'd tell the guy to knock it off Unless he managed to convince you that he was actually helping.
      - lsc 16y ago
        >Unless he managed to convince you that he was actually helping. Eh, in smaller companies, the truth usually comes out sooner rather than later. If the owner doesn't recognize the problem fast enough, the company dies. That, and as the owner, I'm very directly concerned with the health of the company, and I'm involved with day to day operations. In a publicly traded company, the people who are directly concerned with the health of the company at best come to a meeting once a year. Yeah, you can pay other people to look out for your interests, and sometimes that's even a good idea. But you are a fool if you think those people will put your interests above their own. I'm trying to say that as the owner, you'd have to fool me. Possible, sure. But I'm going to work damn hard to prevent you from doing so. In a public company, however, you don't need to fool your bosses; you just need to convince them that supporting you furthers their own goals better than firing you would.
    - yters 16y ago
      You also have the problem of clever bullies who know how to play management.

SkyMarshal 16y ago

"Not to use these tricks all the time, but to use them when you need to." Or so you can recognize when they are being used, disarm them, neutralize your adversary, and steer the process toward understanding the big picture, defining the underlying problem/s, and collaboratively making the best decision for the business as a whole.