Being a recovering Catholic I have come to associate this time of year with forgiveness and new beginnings. Not that I practice anymore but having spent my formative years nailed to a hard wooden pew with that message being drummed in your head every year some of it is bound to stick. As such I thought I would write something about about the cycle of corporate life and how playing politics might not be a sustaining strategy.
I will tell you a story about an executive that I worked with.. We were peers for a time and when we began working together he seemed pleasant enough although we seldom talked. Word was he played cricket with the boss (OK it wasn't cricket but if I say what he really played some of you will figure out my less than cleaver cover) and was on the fast track. Sure enough he was promoted the following year. Now this guy managed his image to perfection, perfect suit, perfect hair and said and did all the right things. Trouble was he never seemed to have an original thought and didn't seem to be all that effective as a leader.
I very soon developed a mild mistrust that this guy might not be all that he seemed and that he was definitely a political player. Not long after we had our first of many horrific run ins over the phone. I had done something very minor and he was absolutely irrecoverably furious. No matter how much I apologized or how much that I pledged (and did) address the issue he just wanted his piece of flesh.
This became the pattern in our relationship. Publicly he was cordial and all smiles. Privately he was vicious. I spent a lovely evening with him probing my ribs with an ice pick just for fun. To him insults were a hobby and they flowed from his tongue like water from a fountain. On the drive home it occurred to me that being nasty was his favorite hobby. I had occasion to meet his family at an event once and it struck me that I had never seen a more miserable bunch of people. I've seen happier people in ransom photos. A picture emerged of a man who would do anything, including turn his back on his own family, to get what he wanted.
Turns out the real motivation he had was that he wanted the top job in the organization (for you military types that is the HMFIC). He built his whole life and image around getting it by any means possible. He was willing to do anything to anybody to get it. I saw him ruin the career of a very promising employee because he promoted him to a position that he could not possible succeed in because it served his political reasons. When the employee struggled he discarded him in less than 2 months without so much as an explanation as to what happened.
He continued his shameless sucking up and political positioning for the top job and eventually the time came for a successor to the top to be chosen. To many people's surprise (not mine) he didn't get it. Not only did he not get it, he received a not so subtle message he would never be promoted in the organization and in fact, the clock might have started ticking down on his welcome.
There are lessons to be learned from this story. This guy has great material wealth but is spiritually poor. He lacks the mental dexterity to build a life or even a new career. He knows is marching towards his inevitable "retirement" to the cricket pitch without the companionship of his family of friends. He has no real companionship because he has never invested in them. The message to be learned from this very real story is live your whole life, embrace both your work and private life with equal zeal and most of all treat everyone with respect. The world has a way of settling scores with interest.
