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> The worst thing about politics is that you just need to hire one person who is “good at it,” and it spreads like a virus. If this person hires more people, th
by PragmaticPulp 3y ago
> The worst thing about politics is that you just need to hire one person who is “good at it,” and it spreads like a virus. If this person hires more people, they will most likely choose individuals who think alike. Before you know it, the whole department is infected.
> In the end, we had to let an entire department go to solve the issue.
Dropping an entire department is hard. Excising the bad employees is good in the long run, but the near term pain is a setback for the business.
One of the hardest lessons I've learned is that the most political people don't look like they're playing "politics". They might be the friendliest, most charming, most outwardly positive people you meet. The way they manipulate might be cleverly disguised as being helpful or outwardly positive.
One of the worst company politicians I dealt with had a charming way of smiling and speaking as though he was the calm voice of reason. If he wanted someone to lose status, he'd find clever ways to take them down a notch while looking like the hero.
For example, if someone was more productive or talented than he was, he would start making a lot of comments about how he was "taking extra time to mentor <person> so they have the resources they need to succeed". When his own work started falling behind, he always had a faux-humble narrative about how he spent too much time helping partner teams deliver the work he needed to complete his own tasks, even though he did nothing of the sort. Repeat this over and over again and he developed a reputation for being "too kind" and acting as the mentor for everyone, while in reality the teams were always struggling to get him to keep up. He spent a lot of time in the office rubbing elbows with execs, even though we were a remote company and he didn't even have a place to sit there. He'd often miss our meetings because he was talking to people at the office while the rest of us were working.
The politics were so obvious to me as a team member, but it blew my mind to see how well this tricks played with the management structure at the company. Management was already overworked and he was conveniently showing up to deliver them narratives and pretend to be the helpful guy. They ate it right up.
- giantg2 3y ago"They might be the friendliest, most charming, most outwardly positive people you meet." This is by far the biggest indicator to me that they're playing politics.
- pooper 3y ago> The way they manipulate might be cleverly disguised as being helpful or outwardly positive. I am not trying to play politics though. I genuinely want to help. I am not even good at communicating. :/
- giantg2 3y agoI genuinely want to help too. But the people who seem too friendly often are.
- beardedetim 3y agoAs someone who is trying to be positive, charming, and friendly in the professional world because that's the type of work environment I want to be in, how can I do that without sending red flags to my coworkers/direct reports? What can I do in order to instill a culture of grace and gratitude without coming across as playing politics?
- Danjoe4 3y agoYou'll be fine as long as you don't have an ulterior motive
- javier_e06 3y agoRead Wilde's "The Devoted Friend". https://www.wilde-online.info/the-devoted-friend.html https://www.wilde-online.info/the-devoted-friend.html Hugh the Miller was one charming guy. The Miller was positive and charming and that did not do much for poor Little Hans. Don't be like The Miller, put aside the charm and grace and stick out your neck for others.
- hobotime 3y agoThe big tell is if someone is really a good person if if they give credit to others now and then.
- alex_lav 3y agoThis type of cynicism is the politics though.
- inconceivable 3y agoi saw this happen once and i left the company immediately. the guy in question was angling to be head of the department, i.e. my new boss. he was a real dipshit with a room temperature iq. incompetent was only the first item in a long list of issues. the dude could barely read. at the same time, a new CTO was chosen, and his first technical all-hands was a verbal tirade about how smart he was and how you couldn't sneak anything past him. lmao. lol. i remember thinking to myself "is this guy for fucking real???" during the meeting. yes, he was for real. current boss was also angling for a promotion so it would have been nice little maneuver. current boss tried to get me to stay after i gave my notice but even to my 22 year old self it was clear as day the direction it was all going. in the end they got their lunch eaten by competition within a few years and everyone there left. what a pointless exercise in stupidity. i just looked - the parent company stock has gone nowhere for 15+ years during the biggest bubble in history. ironically the ceo was a super cool dude but younger than all of his "subordinates" and i think he just got pushed around. either way, if the org is fucking up so bad even a 22 year old can see it...
- m463 3y agothe answer seems to be (from the 48 laws of power): If the world is like a giant scheming court and we are trapped inside it, there is no use in trying to opt out of the game. That will only render you powerless, and powerlessness will make you miserable. Instead of struggling against the inevitable, instead of arguing and whining and feeling guilty, it is far better to excel at power. In fact, the better you are at dealing with power, the better friend, lover, husband, wife, and person you become. EDIT: or is this the virus spreading?
- Brian_K_White 3y agoThat's merely one argument that merely some people find reasonable. There are other equally valid arguments and other people who find them reasonable.