Basics of Workplace Power

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Workplaces the whole world over are a hotbed of politics and power moves.
And it couldn’t be any different.

Think of work this way:

1. It’s a place where groups of people congregate unnaturally. The typical social
dynamics are exacerbated by the high-school-like sense of “having” to be there.

2. People go to work to get resources. People care deeply about resources as they
confer power and sexual advantages. That makes work a crucial aspect of life’s success.

3. Competition is high, but covert. The resources are limited, which fuels
competition. But competition is also frowned upon in favor of teamwork, which makes
work a slightly schizophrenic environment. Strategies are highly secret, and aggression is
covert.

4. People are ranked by titles. Titles confer official authority and power. But titles
only loosely overlap with true leadership skills. That fuels resentment, and gossiping.

5. There are written guidelines and unwritten ones. Promotions are theoretically
based on merit, but in reality, they are also based on politics, appearances, liking, and
more or less illegal or immoral exchanges.

Since politics are embedded in the very structure of the workplace, the sooner you accept
you also must get good at politics, the sooner you can start thriving in it.

Success of the Fittest: Calibrate to Your Culture

You’ve heard this one before:

“survival of the strongest”.

That’s one of the most misunderstood rules of evolution.

It’s survival of the fittest, not strongest.

What does it mean to you?

It means that to succeed, you need to adapt to your environment.

Your company is your global environment.

In turn, your division will be a smaller environment inside the bigger environment (think:
your country). Your team will be an even closer environment (think: your neighborhood).
And your alliances are even smaller environments with its own rules (think: your family).

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To be successful you must always calibrate your behavior and strategies to
your environment.

Some of the rules you will learn here apply to most environments. But you must always
check your company culture first.

Career coach Lois Frankl recommends making a list of the unwritten rules of your
workplace. The “rules of the game” are unspoken expectations for how fast-trackers
should be or behave.
For example:

– Don’t disagree with the boss / Always share your opinion if you think anyone is wrong
– Everyone is expected to work overtime / Overtime means you’re too slow
– Being right and winning matters / Being polite is what matters
– Customers always come first / Employees always come first and abusive customers are
not welcome

As you study the unwritten rules, ask yourself: am I a good fit? What do I need to tweak?

Assess the Company’s Political Levels (& How They Match You)
An important aspect of your company’s culture, and one that nobody will ever talk about,
is how political the environment is.

For assessing your company’s political levels see this forum entry.

Company’s Values: They Matter Only if The CEO Wrote Them

HR slogans and values provide an indication.

But at the same time, don’t let them sway you.

They do say something about your environment, but what a company says does not
always align with what actually gets rewarded.

A good rule of thumb: is there a founder still around? If a founder is still around, he wrote
those values, so they probably mean a lot to him.
If not, is the CEO an idealistic guy, or very involved in the culture? If so, he also wrote
them, so they mean a lot to him.

In both cases, you must pay attention to them.

If there are no founders around and if the CEO is a “bottom-line” type of CEO, your
company’s values tell you a lot about how you must speak and appear publicly, which is
very important. But they probably tell you little of what it really takes to be successful.

And sometimes, following values can prevent success.

See an example here:

– The values’ trap

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Organization’s Recent History: What’s Going On Here?
As a rule of thumb:

– The smaller the business, the more its history matters

– The bigger the events that took place, the more it matters
– If the founder is still around, he will love people who know the history of its “baby” (the
business)

The sooner you understand how recent history shaped your company’s culture, the more
you will be able fit in and sound like an insider.

Especially the recent history, before you joined.

It will tell you a lot about the unwritten rules, what it takes to be successful, and how to
properly function in the organization.

If there were mergers or acquisitions, it will tell you who’s losing power, who might be
stewing for the new “owners”, and where the fault lines of in-groups / outgroups might be
placed.

Major past events might have also shaken your colleagues and you won’t understand fully
their behavior until you know the recent history.

Take John, for example, a Swiss-based doctor and Power Universit alumni.
He found out that just a few years prior to his employment, a kid had died because of a
doctor’s misdiagnosis.
Nobody talked about it. The fact that nobody talked about it already tells you a lot about
the company. Plus, it allowed John to better understand the power structure, and the
hair-trigger of some nurses around viral infections.

I paraphrase John:

Understanding the history of your institution and how it shapes the culture is a very
important component of social intelligence at work.

The Key Levers of Political Power

Power in the workplace is the result of excelling in the following fields:

1. Results: The Power of The Hard Currency

Results matter.

Of course, they’re not the only thing that matters.

And that’s what can trip some people the first time they realize there is much more than
just results.

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They feel cheated and betrayed by a lying system. And they swing in the opposite
direction.
They start believing, or professing, that results do not matter at all.

That’s not true.

Avoid that mistake.
Do not neglect results and output for politics: results and politics are not antithetic
but interdependent.

People who say “it’s not what you do, it’s who you know” rarely go far.
A healthier way of looking at results and politics is this: politics clear the path that allows
your results to bring you upwards.

A few exceptions apply, but you’re always better off having solid results and work output
on your side.
Your work is what you can always turn to and say “see? These are my results, I’m putting
numbers on the board”.

Producing great work is not something you only do for your career.
Knowing that you can produce great work makes you more confident and more fulfilled,
and it’s also how you become a value-adding person.

PRO Tip: Record your accomplishments in terms of $$$

Results matter more if you can quantify them and record them.
Keep track of what your work meant in terms of dollars, or how much it saved. Keep a
record of your KPIs, your past projects, and even all congratulatory emails you receive.

Your next negotiation for a raise or promotion will be much easier when you can drop the
evidence on your boss’ desk.

2. Politics: The Power of People-Tested Strategies

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Politics is the human element of work.

It includes almost everything besides your skills and work output.

Alliances, feuds, coalitions, friendships, favors, backstabbing, self-promotion, sexual
trysts, career strategies, conflicting goals, social gatherings… These are all politics.

Depending on which point of your career you are at, politics can matter more than results.
At a managerial level, for example, networking is more important than how well your
team is functioning (more on it later).

Getting good at politics means increasing your social skills, emotional intelligence and, of
course, understanding power dynamics.
This whole course, and this module as well, will help you become a master operator when
it comes to politics.

3. Skills: The Power of Mastery

Skills matter.

If you were forced to focus on one thing only between skills, company’s politics, or work
output (results), I’d tell you to prioritize skills.
Not because the other two are not important, but because skills are transferable and last a
lifetime.
Politics and work output are more company-specific, and evaporate the moment you step
out of the organization.
But skills stay.

There are two very different types of skills:

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1. Technical skills = the knowledge that allows you to do your job (coding skills,
software, accounting rules, laws and legal processes, etc.)

2. Soft skills = the knowledge that allows you to operate and execute with and through
other people (persuasion, social skills, assertiveness, emotional intelligence, motivating
others, confidence, leadership, etc.)

Obviously, both of them somewhat co-exist in the same person.

A highly technical developer needs at least a minimum of soft skills to operate in a team.
And a high-picture executive still possesses at least some technical skills.

Yet, depending on which one you prioritize, you get very different careers.
On average, focusing on technical skills gives you job security, while focusing
on soft skills gives you upward mobility.

If we wanted to use a catchier tagline, we’d say that technical skills give you job security,
while soft skills give you power (read here of the day I truly realized that).

3.2. Technical Skills: The Power of Expertise

“Technical” refers to all knowledge necessary for hands-on work and work that you do
yourself, instead of delegating, managing, or organizing.

Technical skills matter most at the beginning of your career because your work
output, as much as your initial career progression, depends mostly on your technical
skills.

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Some people only focus on technical skills for their whole career.
If you become good at your chosen trade, that’s OK and you will also gain lots of domain
power.
The higher levels of power, leverage, and income, unlock when you become what’s
sometimes referred to as “guru”. On, in more lay terms, the “go-to person” whenever
there is a difficult problem to tackle.

Google veteran Kim Scott refers to tech gurus as “rockstars” as opposed to “superstars”,
who seek upward mobility (Scott, 2017).

You probably know someone like that in your organization.

It’s the name that always comes up when things get complex and people say “oh, for that
you need to ask X”.
Well, that guy has a lot of power.
Triple that power if you are the go-to guy for topics that matter to the CEO.

Climbing On Tech Skills

You can make good money and get a lot of respect with technical skills only.

And some companies, like Google, allow engineers to climb the corporate ladder on
technical skills only, without ever managing people or departments.
That way, great engineers can keep doing great technical work without ever managing
others. If you prefer hands-on work, and you’re in that type of company, you’re good.

The Drawbacks of Technical Skills

The problem with only possessing technical expertise is that you will not advance to
board levels on technical skills only.
Technical people do not call the shots. They execute what other people decide.

The Back-End Guy of A Rising Star

Sometimes a guru, or a “problem fixer”, can rise quickly through the ranks by attaching
himself to a soft-skills superstar.
However, that also means you become their “guy in the backend”.
They get the spotlight, and you do the work (sucker’s trade?).

You can see an example in the movie “The Big Short” (in typical Hollywood
dramatization):

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Watch Video At: https://youtu.be/xbiDrzTd8fE

Vinnie is the sot-skills superstar, doing the presentation, the quant is the tech rockstar, in
the backend

However, it’s risky to tie your fortune to just one guy.

And there’s also a long term risk: that your skills might become redundant.
If one day a software can do what you’re now doing, then you lose all your leverage. And
you can rest assured no soft-skill guy is going to save you ass. Soft-skills guys have a knack
for thinking of themselves as better than the tech guys :).

3.3. Soft Skills: The Power of Power Dynamics Mastery

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Soft skills are the skills that allow you to work with others and through others (people
skills), or to envision and design the work that others will perform (strategic thinking).

By this description alone, it becomes clear that soft skills are for higher-level work.
And if you want to make it to executive levels, boardrooms, or become the CEO, then you
need soft skills.

Soft skills also help you move upward because they include emotional intelligence,
leadership skills, social skills, and knowledge of power dynamics.
Those skills allow you to operate within the political landscape, while also helping you
come across as confident and authoritative.

I call these soft skills related to career mobility the “executive skills”.
When you hear someone say that they are “upper management material” or they have the
potential to be a top leader, it’s because they mastered the “executive skills”. They come
across as confident and powerful, they command respect and, sometimes, can also
command fear.

I like this scene from “Margin Call” to showcase the executive skills:

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Watch Video At: https://youtu.be/7prnY2FOxns

John Tuld: It wasn’t brains that got me mere, I can assure you that (= I didn’t get here on
technical skills)

Contrary to what he says, John the CEO is most likely very smart.
He’s just smart in a different way. Not on technical skills, but on soft skills and power
dynamics. He is indeed the poster child of the alpha male CEO.

This course is all about learning executive skills.

For external training, I highly recommend you do public speaking and/or presentations
training.
They are both parts of the executive toolset, and they never go out of style.

4. Internal Friends: the Power of a Supportive Network

A long time ago I went to my very first mentor in my very first job.

I had an inter-department power issue on my hands.

A bit hot-headed, I thought I had been slighted and I wanted to hit back. I asked my
mentor for advice and I will never forget what he told me.

Here it is for you, simple and life-changing:

Make friends, not enemies

Needless to say, it doesn’t mean being a pushover and accepting what’s not acceptable.
But it does mean approaching life with the goal of making friends and allies.
Because here is the rule of thumb: friends and allies increase your power, while
fights and enemies decrease it.

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Remember, for your enlarged network, you don’t need “close friends”, you just need
“friendly”.
And we go back to the basics again. This is why mixing power with warmth is so
important. So that when you approach someone, you immediately get labeled as a (cool)
“potential friend”.

When you have friendly relationships with people around the company, anything you
want to do will come easier.
A lot of work is done through informal networks. If you can’t get your ass off your desk
and get someone else to do something for you without having official authority on them,
you’re going to have a tough time advancing.
And the same is even true for bigger projects that can truly launch your career. If you have
a cool idea that can help you fast track your career, your internal network allows you to
check for feasibility, pitch it, launch it, and successfully bring it to completion.
And it’s your supportive network that will share you the information about the next
strategic move and the next opening you can apply for.

And remember: you must be building relationships before you need them. If you
try to ask for a favor before you have a relationship, you’re a burden. If you ask when
there is already a relationship, then it’s a normal part of the relationship quid pro quo.

PROP Tip I: Accept The Flaws, Love the People

A crucial skill to an effective friend-building strategy is seeing people for who they are,
with flaws and all, but not allowing the flaws to destroy the whole.

PRO Tip II: Avoid As Much As Possible Putting People In The “Enemies”
Category

Some people fall victim of black and white thinking.

For black and white thinkers, people are good or bad, friends or foes.
One mistake, one flaw, and they become enemies. Guess what happens with that
approach? The “enemies” category swells.

The worst approach is negative black and white thinking.

These people think there are too many “jerks” and “morons” around to make friends. In
truth, it’s an ego-protection mechanism.
They stick to the one or two friends they have, usually other powerless colleagues going
nowhere, telling each other how bad others are, so they can feel better.

Let them be that way.

But not you. Avoid that mentality: accept people, and befriend them.

5. Alliances: The Mafia-Style Power

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Allies are “special friends” that help you further your interests within the company and
increase your personal leverage (and you increase theirs, of course).

Allies can be sexual trysts, spoken or unspoken alliances of “I scratch your back, you
scratch mine” (transaction-based alliances), deeper bonds (what I call “brothers in
arms”), or simply best friends at work.

Alliances come in two kinds:

1. Machiavellian alliances: you support each other at work to increase your personal
power (nothing wrong with that unless you truly go out of your way to destroy someone)
2. Genuine friendship: based on emotional bond and mutual liking

The power of alliances must be one of the best-kept secrets in the world of business.
Everyone talks about networking, but few talk about structuring alliances.

The reason might be simple: the standard advice rarely tells you to do anything that might
go against the interests of the company.
And alliances further your interests, and not necessarily those of the company.
The company prefers to deal with you as an individual, because individuals are
considerably weaker than duos (or groups).

Among other things, this is what an ally will help you with:

1. Increase your negotiation leverage: you can negotiate with an employer to join as
a team (or as a duo), instead of two separate individuals, which gives you more power

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2. Increase your power against bad bosses: it’s easy for a bad boss to bully
individuals when he can keep the team divided and fearful. But if the team is united, then
it’s one VS many

3. Increase your power to oust bad bosses: if your boss is an asshole, complaining
as a team gives you immensely more power than as an individual. An individual is a
problematic guy. A small group is at worst a mutiny (which must be still taken seriously),
or the proof that the boss is an asshole

4. Provide cover against attacks: people will be more careful to criticize you publicly
if they know there is a third party ready to join you

5. Provide support for your ideas: a simple “yeah, that could work” or “that sounds
promising” might be all you need to let your proposal be considered more seriously by
everyone else

6. Report rumors and backstabbers: an ally is a set of ears and eyes working for you,
a free secret agent on your behalf

7. Promote you behind your backs: is your boss taking credit for your work? Your
ally can “casually mention” to whoever needs to know that it was your great work that
made that success possible. This is 100x better of you having to do it yourself

Allies are a bit like mafias.

But in this case, you are furthering your interests within a corporation that, probably,
doesn’t care all that much about you. So, in my opinion, it’s fair game.

How Many Allies Should You Have?

Usually, the larger the alliance, the more diluted the bond. I recommend you keep your
alliances as duos or trios.

An example of Brothers in Arms Leverage: My Story

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 Me and my brother in arms called our daily meeting “sales huddle”

It took some time before he opened up, but eventually I got to know him.

He escaped an abusive father with 5 Dollars in his pocket.

Spent some time off the streets, sold drugs. Then he arrived to Europe from the new
world. And he had one single obsession: becoming rich.

He’s the most driven and motivated person I have ever met.
I met him when I was on my ass, and he helped me up.

We clicked.
I was the more strategic one, and he was the hammer. We opened up to each other, and
we weren’t just colleagues, and not even just friends. We were brothers in arms.

When my last company hired me, or should I say, hired us, they hired us as a team.
Not necessarily because they wanted me, but because we moved as a team, and could only
be hired as a team.
He was far more accomplished than I am, had a stellar reputation for being the best sales
guy around, and I wouldn’t have gotten that chance -or that salary- without him.
Negotiating as a duo was the easiest, most stress-free negotiation I’ve ever had. We’d tell
ourselves the numbers we were discussing individually, the bonuses, and we’d strategized
together.

Who knows where I’d be today without my brother in arms.

But I was also giving in that relationship: the opportunity to listen and bond with
empathy and without judgment, a more scientific and strategic approach to sales that he
was missing, and a rare opportunity to finally open up to someone who’d cherish that
bond (and who’d keep his mouth shut).
Bonding with people is a skill, and these are soft skills that you can learn as you increase
your emotional intelligence.

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Now he’s gone on to found a recruiting company and I’m working on ThePowerMoves.
But once brother in arms, you are connected for life.
A brother in arms is someone you can always count on when things get rough, and that
also helps you protect your downsides when the unexpected strikes.

Recently (March 2020 at the time of writing) we got back in touch after a
misunderstanding kept us apart. And that was one of the most cherished messages I have
received the whole year. It was like reuniting with an old family member again:

Make two or three of these brothers/sisters, and you’ll get immense leverage -and human
connections- for life.

The best alliances are with people with complementary skills and who are both driven.
Bonus point if are going or have been going through similar life struggles or challenges.
You can’t be 100% sure you will have a chance to meet someone you can forge an alliance
with.
But by keeping your eyes open and putting out feelers, you will be ready to capitalize on
all opportunities that might present.
You can also encourage the development of an alliance. Albeit not all as strong as the
above example, I have had several alliances even within a relatively short office career.

Bonding With Troubled Super-Driven Men

Sometimes it’s easier than you think to develop special friendships with highly driven
individuals.

Many highly driven individuals have a darker side that is driving them. They don’t share it
with the world. But if they get to share it with you… You’re bonded for life.

These are not the type of people who go to therapy, because instead of sharing their
demons, they use them to move forward.
Do you get it now… ? You will be their therapist. With your friendship.

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Support them for real, keep your mouth shut about their true history… and you are
creating win-win friendships (sharing their burden with a trusted confidante can be
highly therapeutic).

6. External Friends: The Walk-Away Power

Your network is anyone whom you can call to ask for information, or introductions.

Internal networks are useful to move up.

But the external network is more useful to save your ass and/or to provide you with
opportunities for switching jobs.

Networks also provide power and leverage against your employer because they help you
find new jobs. The bigger and stronger your network, the bigger your walkaway
power.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that you will (necessarily) use your network to threaten
your employer. But it means that it’s a positive insurance in case things don’t work out.

PRO Tip: Always go to lunch with someone (new)

One great tip from Keith Ferrazzi which helped me increase my network was to always go
to lunch with someone (Ferrazzi, 2005).

How do you do it?

Once you reached the periphery of the people you can reach to personally, send Linkedin
messages to people you don’t know yet or ask for introductions.
Write to people in similar positions or in the same industry and say you’d like to know
them because you’re in the same industry.
So for example, if you do IT sales at SAP, reach out to people at Oracle, Sage, SunSystems,
and Salesforce.
Plus, other salespeople in your city.
Then, enlarge to sales managers, account managers, HR personnel and recruiters (always
great people to know).

And stay in contact with colleagues who left.

Especially if they stay in the same industry: they become a powerful source of information
on what’s happening at your competitors.

7. Mentors & Sponsors: The “Big Daddy” Power

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Mentors help you with advice and career opportunities.
And both of those directly impact your clout and power.

But their impact on your power is also more direct.

Having a mentor from senior management means that you are friend with someone in
power.
It’s like when you’re growing up in that tough neighborhood, and you befriend a local
gangster. You’re not just like the other kids, you can call the big brother when you need to.

With a powerful mentor, you have a made-man in your corner.

Sponsors are even better. Sponsors are mentors who want to help you advance within the
organization. A sponsor will more actively talk you up, nurture you, and prepare you for
that next position.
It’s even more important that with sponsors you show that you can -and will- pay him
back when and if needed to. You won’t necessarily have to, but you must show that you’d
be willing. Otherwise, why would he go the extra mile to promote you?

The more junior you are and the bigger the power difference between you two, the more
you want to treat a sponsor like your bigger brother ally. He’s your Batman, and you be
Robin. Make him feel like a Batman, too. Yeah, you’ll be a sidekick for a while. But you
won’t be a sidekick all your life. Eventually, you’ll get to be Batman.
Act and behave as if you’d do anything to help and defend him. And they will reward you
with that position you want.

The more senior and the closer you get to your sponsor, the more you want it to be a
relationship of equals. But never forget that you must keep that relationship in balance.
You always want to make your sponsor feel like you’re his ally and you’re ready to
support him.

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8. Money Talks: The Power of Bottom-Line Impact
The No.1 resource and final goal for any business is money.

The greater the influence you can exert on your company’s bottom line -or the people
directly responsible for your bottom line-, the greater your power.

For example, profitable traders have lots of power, since they directly bring in money.
Sales people and account managers are also close to the money.
If that’s you, you want to leverage that position as much as you can.
Ideally, you want to become the only point of contact with your customers. Don’t CC your
colleagues or your boss in your more personal emails. Seek to develop very close
relationships with your customers and you will develop immense leverage.
The same is true for investors or any other money provider.

Example: Sales Power Moves

With my last employer, I had found strong Italian prospects with which I became good
friends.

They invited me to their parties on the Italian beaches, I invited them out when they came
to Berlin.

And I made sure to remain their main and only point of contact.
When I left the company, they contacted me to ask if they should go ahead on the deal
now that I wasn’t there anymore.
That’s leverage.

8.2. Get In Line

For the same reason, go into line positions over staff positions.
Line is where the main work of the organization gets done, and it’s what the organization
bills for.

If you work in an accountancy company, then accountants are in the line position and IT
and HR are staff positions. If you work in a data center, then IT people are in the line
function and accountants and HR are staff positions.
When a company must fire people, they usually look at staff positions first. And people
from line functions have an easier time climbing the organization.

Bonus: Attitude, The Pleasure of Having You Around

Positive attitude means optimism and a personality that brightens the team.

Basically, the kind of person people want to work with and include in important and
visible projects.

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We probably know some of these guys and we probably know their opposites too: those
who complain, lament and bring others down.
The former stay and get promoted, the latter are the first to get the chop.

This factor is less important than all the previous ones, since one can also be promoted
while not being particularly loved by his colleagues. But it helps. Plus, it will make your
life at work much easier if you can get along well with others, and if others like you.

Your Goal: Overall Pleasant, But Comfortable With Conflict

Don’t confuse “pleasure of having you around” with “too agreeable”.

Agreeable is good, but it’s not good if you cannot be disagreeable when you need to be -
and there will certainly be situations when that’s the case-.
There is evidence to show that very agreeable individuals (ie.: too nice) earn less than less
agreeable ones.

Your goal is to learn and be comfortable with conflict so that you can enforce boundaries,
compete, and push when needed.
While at the same time developing your baseline behavior as a collaborative and pleasant
person to be around (yes, an “enlightened collaborator”).

Power Assessment: The Power Map

Some people say that your network is your net worth.

But the opposite is also true: the net worth of your network determines its power.

Politically intelligent players assess the power distribution in their organization and
prioritize based on that power map.

This section is a quick primer on building power maps in the organization.

Assess Your Own Workplace Power

This assessment is an expanded version of Marie McIntyre’s analysis of office politics.

It’s not a scientific test, but it gives you a good idea about what you should consider when
assessing your personal power and people’s power.

Do the test on the excel sheet (first tab):

– Power self-assessment

Or see below:

Position

– 10 if CEO
– 0 if intern

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Positional Relevance to Bottom Line

– 5 if you have a direct impact on the bottom line

– 0 if you don’t have any impact on the bottom-line

Positional Relevance to Business

– 5 if you’re in line position

– 0 if you’re in support positions

Visibility

– 10 if your work gives you high visibility to upper management

– 0 if you have no visibility to upper management

Uniqueness of Contribution

– 8 if only you can provide results or information that are useful to the business and/or to
management
– 0 if anyone can easily do what you do

Internal Network

– 10 if you’re friends with top management and department heads and they like you
– 0 if nobody from upper management knows you

Friends & Attitude

– 7 if colleagues and people around think you’re cool and fun to be around
– 0 if people are neutral to your presence
– -7 if people think you’re difficult

Results

– 10 if you’re driving the company/department forward

– 0 if nobody noticed your departure
– -8 if you’ve recently fucked up important work

Note: results count only if visible to the people with influence on your career.

Reputation

– 7 for great reputation

– 0 for no reputation
– -10 for very bad reputation in either work deliverable or behavior

Results:
If you scored higher than 80 you’re on the right way.
Lower than 30 you got work to do.

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And if you scored negative than you are “the problem” and need to start revolutionizing
your approach.

Assessing Other People’s Power

You can use the same scale as above to assess people’s power.
A few questions to consider to improve your power-mapping:

Do top managers know them? Powerful people either are top management or are
friends with them

Does the CEO/head of the department visit them to talk? If they do, that means
they have a strong influence on the decision-makers

Do they talk more about the past or the future? People with no future talk about
the past

Who do they have lunch with? Powerful people have lunch with powerful people

Do they share doubts and reservations about the company or are they fully
bought in? People who talk about company’s issues more than opportunities are likely
on the way out -or they’re rarely going to be promoted-

When they want something, do they get it? Power is getting what you want, so if
they talk about how they “wished they could have this or that”, they are powerless (and
have a poor mindset)

Do they look happy and optimistic or are they unhappy and dissatisfied? If the
latter, they likely have no future

In the recent past have they been promoted or demoted? It takes a long time to
re-acquire power after being demoted

Do they talk badly of management or do they have an “us” approach? People

who talk poorly about management will never be managers. Stay away

Did their team increase in size or shrink? Shrinkages are often political
punishments

With the seating change did they get a better location or worse one? Space and
position are strong indicators of power

These questions will help you make sense of the political landscape around you.

You might also want to map out how those around you will affect you the most. Some
people have a good idea about who can help them or hinder their career the most.
If not, it can help you to sit down and think about it. This table might help:

Score your career influencers (tab 2)

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Questions? Open A Topic & Ask Here!

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