Guide to Office Politics (Part I)
After my Q&A I promised to write down some thoughts on office politics, since that was probably the topic that got the most interest from the WSO community. But then I realized that, although I consider myself fairly decent at surviving the IB/PE political environment, I didn’t have an actual framework in mind. In other words, when you present me with a situation it’s fairly obvious to me what the next step should be, but coming up with a general set of rules is much more challenging. So I’ve spent a lot of time drinking and thinking about this topic over the last few months. These are my preliminary conclusions, and they will probably come over the course of multiple posts over the next few months. I hope someone on here finds them somewhat useful.
With that, let’s jump into it. I will try to keep this as short as possible, and can elaborate in the comments section.
The Formula for Success: Work Ethic and Political Moments
Why do office politics matter? Simply put, we all know someone who got a promotion without deserving it, and we all know someone who “deserved it” and got screwed. When we talk about “merit” in finance, what we really mean is “work ethic” – i.e. showing up on time and doing all of the things that are expected of you, and then some. This includes everything from attention to detail to dressing the part to presenting your analysis in a well thought out way.
However, work ethic is not enough to get you to the top. Work ethic is something you develop in school through years of hard work and practice, then refine and improve early on in your career. It is a continuous process – like a long movie, it is the totality of the frames that matter, and you cannot point to a single moment of “hard work” as being especially meaningful. In other words, the grind is constant, it never ends, and it’s either a part of you or it’s not (in which case stop reading and go fix that before you go any further).
Politics is a different beast, because it happens in “moments”, not movies. Office politics is like the movie poster or trailer advertising the full feature film – arguably much less important than the substance of your work, but mess it up and no one will show up to watch the film. So after a month-long project with many all-nighters and a fantastic work product to show for it, you will likely end up sending it off or presenting it to someone. The way you go about doing this will color how people see your work – these moments of human interaction can and will either create or destroy your political capital / goodwill in the office.
So, work ethic is crucial, but mess up the politics hard enough and your hard work is worth nothing. Politics alone won’t get you there either. Which brings me to my formula for success:
Success = Work Ethic * Political Capital
Yes, it’s oversimplified but think about it. How are reviews done in banking? The MD’s and VP’s hold a conference call and go through all the names. If a senior likes someone, they will “go to bat” for them. If a person is not well liked, no one will want to spend their own political capital to help that person out. Of course, this only matters if the person’s work ethic was actually decent. But since we are conditioned from day 1 that work ethic is all that matters, too many of us tend to screw up the political capital side of the equation, which turns out to be just as important.
So if you think you are smart and good at your job, but things are not going your way, then chances are you need to work on your political game. How exactly to do that will be the subject of future posts, but for now I will leave you with what I believe are the various characteristics of work ethic and political capital. We need to understand how these concepts work before we identify where our shortcomings are and how to fix them.
Work Ethic is:
* Objective (you got it or you don’t)
* A constant grind
* Difficult to change
Political Capital is:
* Subjective (you know it when you see it)
* Made up of “moments”
* Very fluid (a political situation can change quickly)
In essence, work ethic and political capital are like Yin and Yang – inseparable and contradictory opposites. So to better understand political capital, let’s break explore what the opposite of work ethic would be. We value work ethic in banking because it is supposed to be “fair” – i.e., it’s about how hard you work and how good your work is, and not about whose ass you’ve kissed or whose son you are or who happens to like you.
You see? We like work ethic because it’s about your work, not about who likes you.
Political capital is all about who likes you
And that’s my biggest secret, my biggest piece of advice to any young monkey who struggles with this concept. If you already do good work, spend your energy not to learn how to build a slightly better model, but on how to make your co-workers and superiors like you more. This can feel like a soul-crushing task, because as I will explain in the next post, this can involve a lot of pretending to be someone you’re not. Pretending to like a certain person, pretending to enjoy football, acting like you really want to be at the company Christmas party, acting like a Wall Street frat bro just to fit into your group’s culture, etc. Yes, it’s soul crushing – but we always knew that. The job itself is soul crushing. We just tend to think of the hours as the soul crushing part, but I suspect for most people it’s actually the political side of the equation that causes the most heartburn. The sooner you start thinking about how all of this fits into the context of your own career, the sooner your heartburn will start to fade.
To be continued…
Mod Note (Andy): top 50 posts of 2017, this one ranks #26 (based on # of silver bananas)
Fantastic write up. Crazy how the one finance internships I've had in a small boutique will some real personalities, this would have been stellar to know.
And while I do not condone lying, it's always okay IMO to agree with others on their opinion, if it'll help you.
Perhaps an omission of opinion could be just as good, right? For example, if coworkers feel one way or another politically, or about climate change, other countries, etc. you could have a very strong opinion on a topic but you need to tread carefully to not put others off either. So sort of the whole "smile and nod" concept to not cause waves or disagreements, especially with superiors or in front of superiors.
The political opinion issue is a perfect example of what I mean, actually. When I worked for a bunch of liberals, they were convinced I was pro universal healthcare (or at the very least I wasn't against it). I work for a bunch of conservatives now, and I've never joined in when the few liberals in the office criticize Trump. There's just no upside to being too honest, you're only going to risk having certain people like you less. That's not to say I don't mess up sometimes and talk too much (especially when the booze starts to flow), but every time I do I consciously say to myself "stop doing that shit, it's not worth it" - over time I learned to keep more and more to myself and just agree with my coworkers.
It's nice working at a small firm with concrete performance metrics...
Worth noting that screwups are worth a lot more than any positive events.
I personally agree on the small firm thing. The caveat to that is "political key man risk", or the risk that you make a dumb political mistake that costs you a lot of political capital with the key principal of the organization. At a large bank, chances are you can eventually bounce back from a single incident (find a new MD to work for, transfer groups, lateral to different office, speak to HR, etc) but this becomes harder at a smaller firm.
Also, great point on screwups - for every 10 points of political capital a good deed might earn you, you can easily lose 100 points of capital in a single email.
I like the analysis of political capital, especially that it is the collection of specific "moments." But I would say that it's more complex than a popularity contest, because I've seen popular guys that were good at their jobs fail to win the head boss' confidence.
What I feel would improve this, is if political capital were broken down into two parts: popularity and perceived competence. Perceived competence is related to how diligent you are, and how much everyone likes you, but also how well-spoken you are, ability to run a meeting, give presentations, etc...
Emotional Quotient so to speak.
You're right, and there are certainly many ways to frame this concept. I'll try to work this into my next post, as this one was meant to be a simple introduction and was getting too long.
I actually frame it this way: each political moment earns you political capital with that specific person. Political capital is not interchangeable between people, though. Like heat, it transfers from one person to the others closest to their circle of trust. So if you build a lot of political capital with a VP, chances are the MD will have a slightly more favorable view of you in the long run, i.e. you build a little with the MD as well. But your end goal may require you to build a lot more capital with the MD than is possible through indirect transfer (i.e. getting close to those around the MD), so that relationship is where the focus should be.
There was a great post/comment on WSO a few years back on this topic (will try to find it and link, may be in the hall of fame). It was about how when you have 3 projects in banking, you should think about which VP/MD has the most political capital in the office (the most influence over reviews, brings in the most revenue, etc) and do your best work on his/her project. You can't half ass the other two projects, but chances are you only have enough time to go the extra mile on a limited number of tasks. That post actually got me thinking about all of this back in the day.
Thanks for the feedback btw, I appreciate it.
While I agree that office politics are "moment" based and fluid, I'm not sure I consider likability to be the primary determinant of political capital.
If I were to try to pin down one factor as a primary determinant of political success I'd say it's your perceived status. If people perceive you as high status, you will get promoted, be given more responsibility, etc., regardless of how well liked you are. Perceived status is also far more important than work ethic as you rise up the ranks.
Extremely helpful comment. I have been thinking about how to frame the "status" element of this, and agree the framework needs to take it into account. I want to give this some more thought before putting anything down into words.
Adding my two cents. I'm still learning lots these days, but right now I report to an SVP who is making waves within my org (F500, $30 billion a year in revenue). He has taught me lots about politics, and the game that he is playing right now goes all the way to the CEO, COO, CFO.
Completely agree on work ethic. Half the battle is showing up, and straight up out-working the other guy. The majority of success in this world was achieved on the backs of men and women working late into the night. Don't listen to those gurus or other idiots preaching four hour work weeks. Whether you are working in a start-up, investment bank, F500, hospital, whatever. If you want success, you have to work harder than everyone - only then will you have what everyone doesn't have.
On the other side, I would add that political capital requires momentum and consistency. Much of the political capital that my boss has built up has been because he has been right over and over again. By building up a track record of success (your projects consistently deliver the benefits they said they would while coming under budget, you keep landing client after client, you keep hitting your sales targets, etc.) you gain credibility to push more visionary or "out-there" projects. Keep delivering on those, and pretty soon, your boss, and their bosses, start to come to you for answers. That's when you have political capital to play the game with.
Of course, the above is easier said than done. There's luck (maybe your projects just don't go right, no matter how hard you work). Maybe you piss off a particularly nasty exec / MD who just wants to end you. It happens. But this is why the hardest working or smartest don't make it to the top. It's those who work hard, are smart, AND, get lucky that get there.
"It's those who work hard, are smart, AND, get lucky that get there."
Could not agree more!
Does this mean I can't bring my Bernie Sanders mug to work everyday...?
Also love the profile picture.
I completely agree with this post and I would argue that political capital and ability to be liked is even more important than being a modeling star / working crazy hours. Promotions and bonuses in banking are given based on your expected ability to be a deal generator. It all comes to that. If the firm sees you as someone that has excellent social skills you may be getting a promotion faster and have someone under you doing the grunt work.
Guys this is even more important at a boutique.
When I was an analyst, I didn't understand / accept the concept of being political. I thought that doing an extraordinary job was enough.
2 analysts in my class were spending more time at the gym than doing work and were the classic frat bottle and models type of guys. they didn't miss any social events with partners and they made sure to entertain them with their weekend stories. They had the ability to have an opinion on pretty much every topic.
They weren't necessarily the hardest workers nor the smartest but they always got ranked at the top of our class.
During Friday drinks, I heard one of the partners being half drunk saying to these guys "you guys are going to be partner some day".
Building relationships is everything in banking and finance in general.
this shit is the type of advice which value is gold an especial someone with asp syndrome like me, waiting for with your next post, Sir.
Read Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people.
Its only when you are junior that political capital is about being liked. And even then, you could argue its more than that. The more senior you are, the more complex it becomes.
Politics is about understanding who has what influence to make a decision and what they care about. Ability and motivation. That is it. At the junior level, the only thing you can do to influence decision, beyond the quality of your work, is to be liked. But once you control resources in an organization then, obviously, you have other ways to build and wield political capital, beyond emotional connections.
Great point - absolutely true that the game becomes more complex as you move up the ladder. I can write about this experience as one approaches VP level, and can write about how I perceive my superiors to be playing the game at the MD / C-Suite level, but ultimately I can only imagine the type of 3D chess the founder of my firm had to play to get to where he is.
What if... **** nobody likes you **** ?
Dick, dick, dick ? That's how they "knock" on your cubicle...
What then ?
If they don't like you, make them respect you from the quality of your work and your kindness. Focus on your own progression and not whether you're everyone's best friend in the office.
^ Indeed. Better to be respected than liked. I should have picked a better word that captures more nuance in my original post. Thanks for the comment.
Another benefit of being self-employed and making $50k a month from your own ad company is, you don't deal with "co-workers." No offense, but you just said everything that is wrong in this type of environment.
It's great that it worked out for you but I know dozens of people who went broke trying to start their own thing and now they are 35+ and catching up in the rat race.
I am ~30 years old and making a ton of money doing something I really enjoy. At some point I will have enough money to be able to take risks and build businesses on my own terms, while also enjoying life and not living off of microwaved ramen and tap water.
Every choice in life is a gamble to some extent. If you have the skills, confidence, resources, or if you just trust yourself to overcome all adversity when you throw yourself into the fire of entrepreneurship, then by all means go for it. I was not this confident in my abilities when I went into banking, and I had an opportunity to grind in IB and build a lot of option value (i.e. $$ in the savings account to allow me to do whatever I want in the future). The IB route was the higher expected value route for me, then PE was, and then something else until I eventually "work for myself".
You can't play it too safe in life, and if I understand you correctly too many people are scared of taking risks whereas they might actually be very successful if they just jumped out of their comfort zone. I don't disagree with that at all. It's just that I don't think there's anything wrong with hedging your bets and building skills in the rat race for a while before jumping into the shark tank.
Thanks for your post. As the only girl at work for years, I thought I was an outcast for not enjoying football or the Wall Street frat bro stuff associated with office politics . I thought it was a female problem - you made me realize that it's soul crushing for the boys too. Thanks.
Great content. What happened to Part II and III?
Part II is the only post I'm looking forward to in 2018... Preemptively calling it will make it to the front page within a day. Some of the best content on WSO.
Staffing - Any politics involved? (Originally Posted: 03/22/2007)
How does staffing work? Is there any politics involved with staffing? Do they disperse the deals equitably or are a few analysts going to end up with all the deal toys and the rest with none?
Do the best analysts get the "live" deals while the bad analysts just keep doing pitchbooks?
I am going to be a full-time analyst this summer and I don't want to get off on the wrong foot so I'm stuck doing pitchbooks for 2 yrs.
If you suck, they aren't going to put you on any hot deals. If you are good, you are still going to be pitching.
Usually a good staffer will try and stick a weaker analyst with a stronger associate. That way the associate can hopefully teach the analyst until he/she gets up the curve. If it's been a year and you're still struggling, the staffer will probably just put you on some accounts and mostly pitchwork.
Politics is involved, but if you do well you'll get good deals. So just worry about that, and things will fall into place.
How does it work with regional offices? Do they handle their own staffing or does NY still staff deals for junior bankers in the regional offices?
Every group has their own staffer. Usually a staffer is a first year VP or 3rd year associate.
each group has its own staffer, but in regional offices you may be staffed on projects with people in NYC. to get on good deals, be easy to get along with, bust your ass on the menial stuff they give you when you first start which leads to better projects and dont make alot of mistakes...
i know lots of analysts doing pitching for 2 years 120hours a week, it's all about politics...
in groups/banks that don't execute much (doesn't matter if you're great or bad in that case)....you have to be in group that executes in order to avoid 100% pitching.
You should still understand that pitching will most likely turn into a live deal, and usually if you're on a deal, you're on it from start to finish (from pitch to execute). So you should get a good experience working on pitches as well as live deals.
Pitches aren't that bad. You get to see a lot of crazy structures etc that you would never see in a live deal.
Obviously you want some balance, but its not as bad as you think when you are in college and thikning about banking.
Generally though whether it's pitching or executing, politics (or strength of analyst) will be involved in staffing jumbo / sexy deals. Everyone on the deal team would be pissed working on a marquee deal with the weakest link.
Doesn't capacity of each analyst have a lot to do with it? If there's a mega deal in the pipeline, the analyst already on 2 live deals is not going to get it and the analyst that has 2 dead deals is going to get it even if he's not a rockstar
Discrimination? Office Politics? Overagressive (Originally Posted: 04/26/2012)
Hey Boys, been lurking for about 5 years now.
Finally got the interview at Tier 1 IB in Chicago for mid office.
I blew the MD away and then interviewed with 2 blk females who are heads of the teams.
Found out this morning I didn't get the role and it was given to someone who was as they put more boring and quiet and not outgoing. I was shocked as my natural personality is to come off as a superstar/confident/ a player. I asked more questions from my recruiter and I was told in confidence that I'm really suited for the front office.
He basically said the MD said you were his favorite candidate but the girls said my personality would clash with their team...I tried my best to convey to them that I'm s team player and wasn't even aggressive on them. The job literally went to a drone who is going to work there for the next 5- 10yrs. So as I see I'm getting penalized for my ambition or should I have been a wimp. Unfortunate, I cant make it to front office because I lack the SA internship experience. So I'm stuck and this position would have been great to catapult me to the front.
I immediately called my mentor who is an MD at an HF and he broke it down to me as office politics and that the girls felt threatened that I would take their jobs and even surpass them as I'm good, that's why they chose the candidate who wasn't outgoing and more quiet. and the MD of this IB had no choice but to side with girls because he needs to keep them happy.
My mind is spinning and I can't seem to shake it's my fault, I was easy on them and even told them stories and got them laughing what they wanted to hear and I came off a aggressive to them still? I think they purposely didn't want me on the team and they felt safe going with someone who wont compete with them.
My Ego is hurt and I wonder if I need to reevaluate my whole personality and tone it down a bit. I'm just appalled, that I got shutdown because of my ambitions. Downright cunning actions as well as I thought I aced it with them, as I usually charm the girls. Good acting from devious females...
What Now?
It sounds like you are a boss if the MD really likes you, and from what you said the girls definitely seemed threatened. It may be best to not work in that kind of environment, because it's important to like your group. If I were you, I wouldn't change your personality one bit. You aren't a troll, are you?
If you are even half as awesome as you say you are: 1) you wouldn't be getting shut down by back office/middle office (make whatever excuses you want for that one) and 2) you would've been able to secure that "front office" SA back in school. I guess you're not as good as you think you are, so let's calm the fuck down shall we? In fact, you sound like a clueless douchebag.
yeah dude blame the wimminz for your inability to lock down a back office job.
Oh jeezus. Maybe your problem stems from thinking that you naturally come across as a "superstar" and "a player."
Not a troll.
What can I say gentlemen, I definitely respect your opinions here as your all seasoned vets. I'm very modest.
I came into the game late unfortunately, about senior year got my first BB Internship before that I was just running my business full time during college and closed it down to pursue a full time career, income is irrelevant to me at this point. I just want a solid and respectable career.
You guys are totally right, I should've read them more and broken them down, maybe throw in how did you achieve this rank, what made you want to be here, where are you from...I had no idea they would influence this decision.
Thanks
Yeah pal, you definitely are.
Sounds like you've learned an important lesson. Often, it's the support staff (secretaries, HR, etc.) that can make or break you. They can make your day go smoothly or turn it into a total catastrophe. Be nice, respectful, and appropriately humble regardless of who you are dealing with, and you will get further.
^lol @ connor
HAH, Sonny
What can I say I'm a bit mad like Bateman.
I'm over it by now. My friends tell me to take it as a compliment. But at the end of the day, I have no job.
It's like dating, on to the next one.
Here's the deal: Wall Street is a boys club. Unless your MD is a woman, the guys are the ones with the power. If you're a woman, realize that the other woman (1) see you as competition and (2) aren't your friends.
Remember the scene in Team America where the chicks tell each other "I value your friendship" and then go behind each other's backs? THAT'S how it works here. The best woman friends you'll make are either your bosses or are in completely different departments.
The reverse logic holds true for men in female dominated professions like teaching or nursing. Being of progressive mind is all fine and well, but I'm not here to talk about that. I'm just telling you like it is.
Next time, play to that audience and make sure they're on your side....implicitly. What they say to your face is worthless. YOU have to learn how to get the other women on your side, and not present yourself as the chick that's the new "queen bee"....put yourself in their positions and imagine a younger, hotter chick who is now going to lead the male dopes around by their libidos. I say this as a guy who's worked with a lot of women in a lot of industries, and the chick that always gets the raw end of the deal is NOT the hottest or most competent one, but the one that sucks the most air out of the room where male attention is concerned. THATS' JUST HOW IT IS and you can blame yourselves for that.
You don't like those rules, find a female MD or go into a female dominated industry. Or find a place that's at parity (like where I work) ....but those places are rare. The political part of the job is just as important as the technical/personal stuff, this will always be true.
You would be miserable suffering under those two managers. Hard to swallow, but consider this a blessing. Affirmative action at work - remember your privilege!
The Politics of Moving Within (Originally Posted: 11/28/2009)
Hey guys, so I am coming to a close of my first year in pwm at a BB and would like to switch over to IB. I would like to prepare for this process as I know that it won't be as easy as taking candy from a baby.
Anyone know of the proper procedure of making the internal switch of depts? I mentioned my interest of getting into IB to my HR a couple of months after I started but the HR just told me to finish my 1st year strong - was very vague. Should I bother to ask HR again? Would they be willing to help me out?
Please share any experiences or if you heard anyone making this type of move and how it was done.
Thanks
Very hard to move. My personal experience was that HR was very nice and I networked hard but in the end, everyone just ignored me or told me there weren't any spots. At best they said they'll see what they can do and never replied to me again. I moved to a boutique IBD after that experience.
I was at GS pwm, I had a good gpa of a 3.8 and target school but it was too hard to move to IBD.
Man, i am like in the same situation as you just described... this pisses me off. The firm's BS of 'our company provides 'opportunity' for our employees' and it is so great because we are a BB and have every financial services that may interest you... should have realized it was more of a marketing scheme. When you say that you networked hard, what are some ways you went about doing this if you dont mind me asking??
Hopefully there are still some light of hope, any success stories out there????
Well I met up for coffee with bankers and even met up with one of the HR ladies. She even took my resume. However in the end I never got an interview so I left and went to a boutique.
I heard someone from JPM said it was easy to move within, is it true or is it BS
jddl - After asking around different BB - including JPM, there seems to be mixed answers where some say that it is very easy and others say that it is challenging. Therefore, I am still at a standstill and maybe it REALLY IS a factor of luck....
Would you guys advise on me just straight out telling my manager that I would like to move to IBD? - of course in a nicer way. Or would that just make this awkward and end up getting fired?
I work at a top BB and moved from capital markets to IBD, so it can be done.
In terms of transitioning to IBD
Friend of mine just moved from PWM to IBD at Goldman. Anything is possible, but its much easier to make the move from capital markets versus PWM
Hey madgames, would you mind sharing the details on how you managed to move from capital markets to IBD? Also, if you know how your friend from PWM managed to move to IBD please please tell me. Feel free to PM me as well. Thanks!
One question that still needs to be answered is whether I come out to my manager about my interest in IBD and ask him for his help in the transition. Any input on this would be great.
I appreciate everyone's input and keep them coming!
One word. NO!
Think about this from your managers perspective. Unless he's a complete saint / idiot, he likely doesn't care about what his analyst wants, he just wants a high quality work product, few questions, and a good bonus. All of a sudden you tell him you want to transition out of his group and into IBD. He's going to feel slighted and now you're less likely to get staffed on interesting work, etc. because he doesn't see you staying with the group for much longer, and so has no reason to develop your skill set; you have happy feet, you'll likely leave anyway.
My recommendation is to work behind the scenes and if it works out it works out. If not, deal with it, go to b-school and make the transition after.
I disagree. One way or other, your manager will find out (IBD would ask him about your performance before considering you). If you were going behind his back, he will be pissed off.
If he is a reasonably nice guy and relatively senior, he could likely help you make the transition if he likes you.
It is too bad that my manager is not very proactive in general, not just with me. Surprisingly very introverted guy... still debating whether to let him know my interest.
In addition, would you advise me to contact the IBD HR? How about my current HR who deals with the PWM dept? I feel like she would not have too much power in the transition process and am afraid that she would try to keep me in pwm. Any thoughts?
Feels like im walking in a fine 1000 yard rope in a 50 floor building..
The group you leave will do everything in their power to stop you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Also, if this is a move you want to make, you shuold be able to get an IBD job anywhere. The issue of the challenges to moving within your own bank is just a fictitious barrier you are creating from doing what you really want (IBD). Get off your arse and go get what you want. Good luck
Politics At a big shop (Originally Posted: 12/13/2017)
What are some words of wisdom for younger analysts working in big institutional shops in regards to politics? Being a relatively new analyst, I am starting to learn the landscape a bit, and am realizing politics drive the show.
Hi Bigdog2, any of these discussions helpful:
If we're lucky, the following users may have something to say: aproncao Fgalitsky dreaves528
You're welcome.
CC'ing politics (Originally Posted: 08/31/2012)
It's Friday so i want an easy ride, not some frickin' game of CC politics all afternoon!
Does this occur elsewhere? You'll email someone, CC'ing people in, the other end will reply with this bull shit, you question his bull shit, then he'll reply just to you, take everyone off CC. You tell him what's what, he then writes a message making him sound shit hot, CC's in the world. Back and forth all day....
Basically, any time i question my colleagues in Munich, they take everyone off CC, and then you'll be having a convo, and suddenly, half of Bavaria is on CC.
Pisses. Me. Off.
i hate email chains with a burning passion
I love it when someone tries to throw you under the bus and CCs the world. You can CC everyone right back and monkey shit all over them. Then they only reply to you to confirm...
F'in Bavarians.
Gypsies
This happened to me last month. I got into an argument with a builder's representative with the client originally CCed on the email. I decided that I didn't want to throw the builder under the bus in front of their client, so I took everyone else off CC as we argued the point for like 10 emails. This complete bitch CCed EVERYONE and their brother on the last email with the whole chain there--we both looked like total jerks to our clients.
Point is, I was trying to not throw her under the bus in front of anyone, and yet the immutable law of the universe is that no good deed goes unpunished. I thought we were having a private convo and she throws me under the bus in front of everyone.
Lesson learned--stay as professional as possible on email and don't ever EVER say anything you wouldn't mind having a dozen important people see.
I learned this the hard way to - never do anything heated via email, phone only. I sent a scathing flame mail to a twerp junior analyst at my old firm continuously undermining me trying to take lead role while making tons of mistakes I was blamed for. Apparently he turned around and sent it to the MD leading the deal without any context - lost a ton of political capital and really hurt me while there.
Politics in the Business World (Originally Posted: 06/16/2013)
Hey all,
I wanted to see what insights people had regarding office politics in different industries, namely IBD/finance vs. Consulting vs. F500. Why does it seem politics in consulting are a lot less than the other two?
Why does it also seem F500 positions suffer the most from office politics and "fitting in"? Is this true?
Is there any industry/job function where promotion and recognition is truly based on merit (while also valuing being a good person and some social skills)?
Thoughts everybody?
bump?
I can't speak for IB/Industry but Consulting tends to have a culture of "constant" feedback/review. Generally analysts and associates have a clear picture of their performance and their career progression. Hence promotions tend to be a bit more concrete on reasoning. It's a lot harder to promote your friend over someone else with better reviews.
Consulting is less political than huge F500s, but once you get to the level of seniority where you're important (no offense to everyone who, like me, is irrelevant), it's still political. Yeah, promotions from analyst to consultant to manager (and even partner - making partner is really just the beginning of becoming important in a consulting firm) are pretty standard, but when it gets to "Who's the new head of the NYC office?" and "Who's the head of the healthcare practice?", relationships are everything.
Office Poly-Ticks (Originally Posted: 05/09/2012)
Looking to hear from the more experienced voices on this board: Are there any general guidelines for navigating office politics, especially as a 1st or 2nd year?
One of my most admired investors, Ken Fisher, describes politics thusly: “’Politics’ comes from the Greek poly, meaning tiny, and the English word “tick,” a tiny blood sucking animal. Therefore, when you have politics, you have, ‘many, tiny, blood-sucking animals.’”
It can be nerve-wrecking for a new hire to have any idea how approach office politics. Often described as the worst part of any job, and sadly a lot of other folks at work aren’t always interested in helping out the new guy/girl. Even more unfortunate is that none of us are immune from it, and Eddie Braverman’s sage signoff from NSFW (“Keep your heads low and your powder dry”) is blunt reality.
There are a ton of books out there on this, but in my experience most of the authors’ purely academic credentials simply don’t hold any water with me. I’m much more comfortable taking advice from someone who has lived the problem from both sides of the desk rather than someone who has just studied it. I hope this discussion can be helpful to the newer monkeys and those of us in our first job.
Be that as it may, here are two pieces of advice I’ve gleaned from a 30-year Wall Streeter:
Let’s help each other out here, monkeys! Any other pro tips from the rest of us?
set limits on how much shit you are willing to take. people with no limits are called bitches.
deal with people stepping to you in real time. call it out in real time and pay back in real time. letting shit pass never works, it is seen as an admission of wrongdoing or weakness.
know that in this business, people fuck with you not for profit or advantage, but for sport. why do you think i am on here all the time?
My office-politic bible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_48_Laws_of_Power And as you can see rule #1: Never outshine the master, So I guess your point #1 made my point.
Crush your enemy totally.
Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop.
Contradictory...interpretation?
"Poly" means "many". It would have fit better. :S
in my "office" i.e. my private jet, when mofos talk back i lay down the smack. i guess u wood call my office political structure a dicktatorship
I have some advice because I've had fresh experience with office politics. This pertains especially to employee/boss relations and rumor mills.
So just in general, remember that whenever someone is engaging with you in office politics and rumors, try to really be on everyone's good side. Go ahead and laugh or nod when people talk to you, but believe me, you'll be better off if you don't engage in your own smearing of others or complaints, because it'll come back to bite you, and just don't repeat what you've heard. You really don't know what the truth is to a lot of what you're hearing, you don't know who is stabbing you in the back, and at the end of the day, you're more likely to get far if you make friends with everyone and "keep your distance" personally as much as possible, if you know what I mean. The less you engage in the petty drama that others are engaging in, the less you'll be seen as a threat to someone's career and getting a management position, and ironically, the more eligible you'll be for said management position. You want to be the guy who's trustworthy. You want to be the guy who people can talk to when they're pissed because they know you're a nice guy and you're not a two-face. This way, you give the illusion of being on people's "sides" when in reality, you don't care and couldn't give a rats ass. As long as you avoid being an actual two-face (repeating people's private information and talking trash behind their backs), everyone in the office will like you and trust you.
Spot on. This VP gossips to me all day (she sits behind me) and talks shit on other people, seniors included. I just try to stay out of it and nod my head...I won't even respond, nod, or turn around when it's something bad she says....why won't she get the hint...I DONT FUCKING CARE. I can't imagine what she says about me....fucking bitch.
Dunno about all this but I'm really good friends with a VP and an MD. Like, I go to their places for dinner three or four times a month, go skiing with the VP etc and that has pretty much put me above all the office politics bullshit. I know they have my back so I don't have to deal with it.
i had a situation where there was cocksucker A and cocksucker B. they both were giving me trouble, and i had a ripe opportunity where i could hit them both. i aimed at A and hit A and withheld from hitting B so i don't look like i was having a problem with the whole team. this enhanced the hit inflicted on A. i saved B for another day.
How to handle unavoidable clashes in the office
Only way to do it right is in Ari Gold fashion :
NEVER admit your mistakes. It just gives your enemies more ammunition.
^^+SB when I get one.
Gratitude Sir.
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