There's good politics and bad politics. Good politics seems to emerge when people really care about the greater mission, but disagree on how to go about it. It'

There's good politics and bad politics. Good politics seems to emerge when people really care about the greater mission, but disagree on how to go about it. It's still frustrating, because there are disagreements to be resolved, but usually you can get everything out in the open if there's good management. Bad politics is when people are out for self-advancement and will continue with disruptive behaviors until terminated. Bad politics tends to be personal, as decisions about unrelated matters become referenda on the people the topics are associated with. If you don't have the good politics or bad, it means that people don't really care. However, the stakes in white-collar America are usually high enough that the bad kind of politics will typically emerge no matter what. What I think is important is keeping enough transparency that the good kind of political activity doesn't devolve into the bad kind. That's a fairly common scenario. Usually, people get tunnel vision about the specific victories they need (or think they need) and start lashing out at the people they think are blocking them (often, without telling anyone why they're doing it) when it would be better to figure what the actual conflicts are and how to make everyone win, as much as is possible.