It is difficult for men to survive the gyno-centric workplace environments of today’s societies, complete with fem-centric workplace laws. Plus, this problem gets compounded in offices where a mangina is at the helm, further shifting the power equation in female favor.
Patriarchal modern men have to increasingly choose from between either switching to male-dominated blue collar jobs or pursuing entrepreneurship, or adapt by gaming their workplace environments.
The defusing gameplan to a potential blindside
One TV show which accurately portrays the nature of a blindside is Survivor – a social game where castaways are left to survive on an island, and outwit, outplay, and outlast each other to win the million dollar prize for the sole survivor.
The contestants’ gameplay often exemplify laws from works like The 48 Laws Of Power, mirroring the manipulative and fickle nature of real life politicking, and the necessity of acquiring dark triad social game (with some nsfw examples) – traits which some of the past winners have actually embodied while playing.
But many “deserving” contestants had been voted out or blindsided on the show simply because they underestimated or lacked the social intelligence to read the superior manipulative game of their physically weaker competition (usually women), or blend “effectively” with their tribe.
The scenarios on the show often present fitting analogies to real life situations one may increasingly face, offering valuable info so as to know how to overcome manipulation and betrayal by others – both in private or professional life. Here are a few of the lessons:
1. Be dynamic
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes. – Law 48
In today’s office environments where unscrupulous power games often abound, being predictable and “rigid” would only present visible chinks in your personality which unethical workplace competitors will exploit.
Understand that your ethics could become exploited as a weakness by them, so try to emulate Odysseus‘s craftiness and dynamism instead when dealing with such competition.
2. Always put your interests first: don’t let comfort or pity deter you from your goal
Lots of men get blindsided professionally by their rivals because they let their personal humanity and chivalry, or the “comfort” of their office environment, distract them from their own personal interests. T
his not only results in professional failure, but also waste of precious time which can never be replaced. Thus, never lose focus of your goal through times of professional comfort or adversity, and crush your rivals totally when opportunity presents it.
3. Do your groundwork and document everything
Failure to do your “research” and document information on your workplace rivals will not only give them leeway, but also make your case weak when soliciting allies or support to crush them. So understand the utility and power of a damning piece of “evidence” which can be used against them.
4. Keep your eyes and ears open: don’t let blind trust and favoritism blind you to the reality around you
The blindsided man is usually the gullible one who gets too comfortable and overconfident, blindly trusts people, and fails to properly read the reality around him. This risk is greater in today’s multinational work environments, where it’s natural to be automatically drawn to some more than others based on common interests, similar ethnic and religious backgrounds, etc.
But don’t let these superficial commonalities eventually blind you to their true character. Instead, use Law 14 – Pose as a friend and work as a spy – to know the real nature of your office colleagues before choosing the right ones to form an office “tribe” with.
5. Make “strategic” but temporary alliances
“..isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from-it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people, find allies, mingle.” – Law 18
Isolation is dangerous, and avoid becoming an “island” at work . This becomes important to avoid the radar of the professional higher-ups for the wrong reasons, and get the target off your back. So combine this with:
- Law 3 – Conceal your true intentions
- Law 4 – Always say less than necessary
- Law 38 – Think as you like but behave like others
But realize that “alliances” can be transitory – so don’t commit forever, unless to exceptionally trustworthy people.
6. Test your colleagues before you think of trusting them
To ascertain people’s trustworthiness, try testing them first with trivial bits of pseudo “confidential information ” to see whether they guard it or circulate it. Never invest trust in office gossip mongers, rabblerousers, or backbiters—for as they do to others, they can do likewise to you.
8. Master the art of timing
It’s not only important how to deal with your professional rivals, but also when to deal with them. The right move at the wrong time becomes the wrong move. So plan accordingly, and know when to attack or retreat.
9. Try to become “indispensable”
Average never got anyone anywhere – even more so at work. Indeed, being a performer will attract the envy of competitors, but try to achieve professional indispensability by keeping people dependent on you for your work expertise, and never teach others enough so that they can do without you.
Your “indispensability” could likely then ingratiate you to those in power possibly giving you (temporary) professional immunity, and buy you time to prepare for your own blindside on your rivals.
10. Always have a backup plan(s)
Just like how women cannot hurt men with sexual options, similarly companies cannot hurt men who have backup options in case of unexpected layoffs. Failing to plan is planning to fail – so plan all the way to the end, with preferably multiple backup plans.
11. Listen to your gut instinct
While it’s wise to plan ahead, it’s equally important not to disregard your gut instinct, which might warn you ahead of a potential plot against you at work. Your gut instinct may not be always right (since most usually disregard it for conventional thinking) – but relying on it frequently will gradually optimize it for future use.
At work, a little paranoia will not harm you, but rather keep you based in reality to avoid becoming slack, and not take things casually for granted – but this usually happens when men deal with women professionally, which needs to be addressed separately.
Conclusion
The ruthless and unscrupulous nature of modern social life makes it increasingly important for modern men to acquire Machiavellian game (or dark triad traits) to adapt to it.
Let not blind trust or comfort intoxicate men into peaceful apathy and becoming sitting ducks for blindsides, both in their personal and professional lives. Your trust is something to be earned; not to be dispensed randomly and blindly to others.
Read Next: Modern Men Are Becoming Lotus Eaters
Hey Roosh, your site is fucking unreadable. The adds are making the page jump all over the fucking place.
Honestly, Roosh, I had to turn Ad Block on for all your sites. Maybe ease it back a bit?
Roosh has to make some extra money for his planned marriage, I suppose ;).
use google chrome. then get ad block. i don’t see any ads anymore
As long as we’re talking about this, could we do something about those, “I’m Suzy Wondertits and I make $9,473.24 a week at home using Google to do really important and cool things like remailing consumer goods for Nigerians”
Nailing Nigerians?
in soviet sweden, nigerians nail you
Touche!
I had the same problem this morning with the site jumping. It is the first time I have ever experienced that problem with this site.
Which ads? Send me details to [email protected]
Ads get swapped. I think it was some kind of an animation with a car/gas station.. It was an animation for sure, and the page was scrolling back up to it every few seconds regardless where I in the page reading..
Good perspective. Love seeing the 48 Laws applied this way.
Just go to work, don’t talk about politics and be friendly but keep distance with your employees and boss. Be professional and just work, get your work done and get the hell out… Clock in and Clock out. Don’t mingle with your employees and don’t get into any sort of drama. Don’t feel any human connections to your employees because they are just employees NOT your friends. These people will not hesitate to stab you in the back or screw you over for promotion. Of course have a back up plan and try to earn side money online as well if possible so that when you get fired, you have that “cushion”.
Basically you have to have the same level of disconnect as highly organized serial killers. Think: Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac, the Texarkana Moonlight Killer, Richard Kuklinski.
Well to be that far, it’s up to individual basis. For me, I think that is too far. I just wouldn’t be friends with employees because of the possible disappointment and letdowns I would feel IF they were to possibly backstab me for promotion or get me fired or get me tangled up in office politics. The best way is just to remain as good professional network contacts. Keeping it distance but also friendly using wit. The only thing they would know about me is my networking skills and use these employees as possible references for networking. That’s all.
I wouldn’t be like going to bar or drink with them and shit like that even though many people do and they rather refer their own friends. It’s just too risky in today’s society with so many office politics and bullshit. It’s better to remain mysterious but friendly. They will just try to probe you more but you also have to look boring on the surface so they don’t try to dig deeper about you. Basically you have to put on facade and mask and act little fake to fit in but you don’t want to dig deep into their bullshit. Just nod and smile and just do your work.
In effect: be the gray man, familiar but ultimately unknown. Also have a couple of convincing cover stories, a friend of mine had problems at one workplace because he was too ‘gray.’
yeah I feel you man. I guess this is why it’s better to be self-employed and be an entrepreneur instead. It seems like no matter what your friend did, the people didn’t like him no matter what. I think maybe jealousy could have been a factor.
It is a difficult proposition. One the one hand humans are social in nature- in Phillip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ the replicants could be ferreted out by their solitary nature- but to go gray, to become solo, you end up with something akin to a predatory mindset. Which is difficult for a lot of Millennials raised in the suburbs.
Those same Millennials won’t have problem staring at their iPhone, Droid, etc… and stare down all day without even caring or acknowledging their surroundings…
Not easy to have genuine conversation with these type of artificial people.
I had more honesty and sincere talk with rednecks from Appalachian Mountains and Asian tourists with broken English skills than I ever did with Millennials.
Yes, and it’s always worth remembering that even though it appears like isolation, they’re desperately dependent on the ‘inclusion’ their 2 dimensional screens provide via social media updates, ‘deep’ chatversations, dramma!, etc.
If you are searching for extra payment averaging 50-300 bucks a day for doing basic work over internet at your home for few h every day then try this…
Solid advice. Developing friendships with co-workers and spending time together outside of work is trouble. It offers no benefits, unless being fucked over at work is alluring.
Also: never date coworkers. Best and fastest way to fuck up your career (no pun intended…)
why and how?
Because when shit goes bad, the company is going to cut the guy loose….they’re certainly not going to punish the woman, b/c consequences aren’t for snowflakes.
A woman I know was fucking a guy she worked with. The guy was a dumb fuck who left the hotel folio in his car and wifey found it.
Rule #1: Destroy the Evidence. Don’t leave shit laying around like a fuckhead.
So wife raises holy hell. Her fucking retard husband, for no reason that anyone with a functioning brain could understand, fucking decides to make an issue of things with HR. I can only imagine that wifey was pulling the strings, and FORCED him to, and he didn’t stand up to her (Wifey actually showed up at the workplace to try and confront my friend, and was removed by security).
So my friend had to go to HR for a sit down, which she was basically crapping in her panties about it, b/c she needed her admin job–the guy was a 500K a year VP still married to his first wife who had become an entitled fatty, thus he was seeking younger, more attractive tail. I explained to her how to handle it, and to stick to her guns.
You know what the first words from HR to her were?
“What do you want?”
Not “Don’t fuck guys at work”, not “WTF were you thinking”, but “What do you want?” I had told her that this was basically what was going to happen, so she was ready. Basically she didn’t want to have to have anything to do with him, wasn’t going to try and monetize it by suing the company (which is famous and you have all heard of it), she didn’t want the guy fired or punished (punished? For what? Having sex with a willing woman?*), she just wanted to continue in her job in peace.
So they exiled the guy. She didn’t ask them to do this, HR did it on their own. They had another satellite office nearby to HQ, and he got dumped there. It was 45 minutes away, but it might as well have been Siberia. He was “promoted” and given a longer title, of course, but the subtext was clear.
I don’t have any sympathy for the guy, b/c:
1. He fucked up by getting caught.
2. He couldn’t keep his own wife under control.
3. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut and everything would have been fine.
Sure, he’s still getting paid, but he’s no longer on the short list to become HMFIC some day. Instead, his career got derailed b/c he couldn’t control his cock and he couldn’t control his wife. After a while, when there’s enough cover for them to do it, they will put him on an ice floe and watch the tide take him out.
Mistral
*And really, she was’t trying to be a cunt about it, she just wanted not to be around him after that, which is understandable, b/c he turned out to be a pussy beta who couldn’t control his hamplanet wife. One of the worst things that can happen to a woman is to discover that she gave her pussy to a weakling.
Of course, fucking a married man isn’t the smartest move, in any circumstance.
So if I cheat I’ll get promoted, I don’t see the downside.
Also how is he a pussy if he cheated.
And couldn’t he just switch to another firm?
At his level, not so much. Maybe, if he brought a substantial book with him, but it’s like getting relegated. It was a “promotion” in name only. It’s like getting “kicked upstairs”.
He’s a pussy b/c he couldn’t control his land whale wife, and he went to HR on her orders, and fucked his own career.
I agree. Fishing off of the company pier was RETARDED–that was the first thing I told her. It went like this ,“WTF goes on inside your head? Anything normal?”
That said, she did observe the cardinal rule of shitting where you eat: choose someone with more to lose than you have.
WHY: You can’t mix different ranges of emotions in a place where you have to be rational and sharp functioning. Men tend to get stupidly dumb when they see a pair of boobs because we are very visual. Women in the workplace use their physique to trick men in order to get whatever they want. Their physique is a tool to counterbalance their general lack of skills/experience. If you start to bang/date someone from work, you will have conflicting emotions in the workplace. As I said earlier this is not good because in such environment you can’t allow yourself to be distracted. Also, why would you deal with bullshit drama in the workplace when we already have to deal with it on a daily basis outside of work?
HOW: just be professional, you are at the job for the job. You hold a certain function inside the company which is the very reason why you were hired. Do your job, be friendly to everyone but don’t let anyone disrespect you and never show any signs of weakness. If bitches start to get all sweet over you, never play around and let them understand that you are not into that shit. It might feel like a nice game at the beginning but on the long run the ruthless bitches will have no remorse when they backstab you and replace you. One very important thing as well: you should always remain very neutral when doing outside activities with coworkers. Never talk shit and never let anything slip out of your tongue about anyone from the company. You would be surprised after a couple of drinks how people tend to talk shit about their job.
I learned the hard way about all this. I used to be a teacher and I banged a student of mine… It got me in a lot of trouble, so I know this is something that has to be avoided at all costs. Think wisely gentlemen before you dip your sausage in the hole. Most of these holes are really not worth all the problems that will hit you in the face afterwards. Small time reward for big time problems!
Also keep in mind the long term problems.
If you two have a nasty and messy breakup, you still have to work with each other every single day.
2nd to that is don’t talk to coworkers about girls you’re dating. That can be almost as bad as actually dating someone from work.
Excellent.
Your business card sucks.
Shut up Allen.
I don’t know if “becoming indispensable” is necessarily a good thing. I’ve seen plenty of “indispensable” people fired because they pissed off the management too much… mainly by flaunting the idea that they were “indispensable.”
Yeah, no such thing.
Graveyards are full of men who thought they were indispensable.
Charles De Gaul
Even CEOs and company presidents come and go. No one lower in the food chain should think they’re so important that he is immune from being fired.
For me, I try to remember that I am completely, totally and easily replaceable. I have to continue to make myself be useful at work so that management knows that I am engaged.
The one thing you can do, is always be able to simply get another job. Keep your skills sharp, go to interviews from time to time, just to be on top of it. In general there is no such thing as loyalty.. to a company or from a company to you. As soon as you can get a pay raise (not just a couple of thousands, a little more substantial), jump ship and never give a shit.
There is no such thing as having a “career path” inside a corporation. That’s HR vomit.
Another way to do it, but this requires you to be at the top of your career… is to become an independent contractor.. corp to corp. Contractors make almost double the regular employees.. Being an employee gives you a false sense of security.. It’s BS again, you’ll be discarded at the slightest corporate hick up.
There is no such thing as “full time” job anyway.. Go independent.
yeah, true. loyalty means you end up losing years of your life to a project you don’t really care about for cookies and approval of your boss, just to resent him when it’s over one day and you realize you have gained absolutely nothing.
i work as a contractor now and when i work with employees, i can’t help but notice how helplessly behind they are in their skills and motivation.
BINGO. Exactly. Couldn’t have said it better myself. You summed up in a couple short paragraphs what I try to explain in many lengthy paragraphs.
i was too indispensable. my boss put up with everything i did. eventually, i was the one that quit. he was good at using guilt to his advantage, calling me unloyal several times. once he said he was sad because he considered me a friend and didn’t like my cold demeanor. akin to the girl saying “you don’t love me”. fucking incredible. i admit that i was confused because i had worked for him for a long time. he was very good with people and after working almost exclusively for him for over a year, i more or less took his words at face value.
now that i quit, he hasn’t contacted me in half a year. yeah, i know, why would he? still, i was pretty naive and still am. never liked these power games, but as they say: you are playing even if you don’t want to play.
Not to mention when one becomes indispensable you become the dumping ground for everyones problems – you want to cruise through work not work your ass off.
I’d argue that “being indispensable” is the polar opposite of “being dynamic.”
The latter shows that you’re willing to do what it takes to be useful to your employer, the former indicates complacency.
No one is indispensable. People can make themselves more difficult to replace, which can buy them time to bail on their own terms when they see that things are going south.
Alright you guys gotta do something about these adds its starting to affect page performance
Just get adblock
Is it available for IOS? (iPads)
It’s easy to avoid the women part, just don’t shit where you eat. On the other hand, the kind of people, if you’ve read A V Yader’s latest article, who will hate on your lifestyle, are the married beta schlubs, manginas, white knights, and any other beta fools with no understanding of male dominance and playboy qualities. These people have tried to get me kicked out of my job before, and now that we are in the next stage working together, they are forced to be in the same environment as me. I can’t say what it is I do exactly, but lets just say its a traditional field that has been significantly affected by the PC bullshit in the last 25 years, but still has a great payoff for those who know how to use it to their advantage. Now the beta fools and I work together, but I still suspect they would try to have me removed as soon as they get a chance. This article is gold, and I hope to see more like it. Also does anyone else here understand what I mean by the married beta fool who stands on his pedestal of pseudo-intellectualism and hates the good-looking playboy bachelor with whom he has to work with? I would try to make them see a bit of red pill, but alas, the beta is a sad creature who is stuck in his own claustrophobic world of submissiveness, and any outward displays of alpha fuxx will confuse and enrage them.
I will beat these men, but I’m wondering if it is really worth it? Scheming or not, one cannot withstand the flow of causality, for weak and critical men will never prevail over strong and cunning.
Your right the manginas are a bigger risk to one’s future than a scheming woman.
A coed school graduates to a workplace with women. The same mattress carrying hooplaa on campus then takes root in business. We must stop educating our women for career work and domesticate them.
Be careful about being ‘indispensable.’ That can often translate into ‘unpromotable.’
Correct. The office pain in the ass who everyone avoids. The absolute worst person to employ is the “they can’t get rid of me” douche bag. Watching this person lose their job is just pure heaven.
Indeed! Another thing worth considering is that less-than-scrupulous bosses have been known to not promote the ‘indispensable’ because the guy who’s always on time, really good at this job and generally a model employee is often of more use to a boss as an underling than as competition.
How about an article on creating and maintaining a profitable business so you don’t have to worry about office politics. Fuck this shit. Life is too short for this bullshit.
very good article- The problem this article doesn’t address as that some people the devil would need to dig down in the dirt to find. For those – just to try crush.
Also, don’t get your honey where you get your money from.
Oh well, maybe I should mention this to a friend of mine who banged his office intern…lol
As a guy who has worked for three Fortune 500 companies and two Fortune Global 100 companies, here’s some advice about playing the corporate game.
Make friends with HR.
HR is the Elephants’ Graveyard for people with No Fucking Talent. There is, inevitably, one person (and usually only one) who does not have their head up their ass. Buddy up with her (and it’s always a ‘her’) and make sure she handles all your HR needs, b/c otherwise whatever you need done will get fucked up by girls and/or AA hires who are just there for the numbers. Sure, there are talented women and minorities…but not in HR.
Hide in Plain Sight
Sort of like being the “Gray Man”. Do your job, get paid, and enjoy your life from 5pm to 9am. Nobody is working in CorporateLand b/c it’s so fucking cool and awesome, not even the folks at Google (ok, maybe Google, but not 99% of the rest of everyone else). We’re there for the paycheck.
Don’t Mistake Your “Work Friends” for your “Real Friends”
Sure, there are some cool people at work, and some of them will cross over into the “real friends” category, but not as many as you think. You’re there to do your job, and get paid.
Secure the Perimeter
Whether it was business or personal, I tried to make sure that nobody came to my boss with anything that was a surprise. If anyone asks your boss a question about you, it’s better for him to know the answer because he heard it from you first.
Don’t Get Overdrawn at the Favor Bank
There will be times when you will need a friend. It’s ok to do favors for people, take on a project or two, b/c some day…you will need a friend. I covered another person’s region after they moved on, and kept everything afloat. Since I work for a corporation, they didn’t pay me commensurate with the work I did, but I regarded it as sweat equity. A good reputation is a powerful shield.
Containment
Contain your enemies, as George Kennan advised in The Long Telegram. Do not escalate into a hot war if at all possible, while not suffering any loss of prestige.
At a former job, I had an issue with a female co-worker. The issue was that I didn’t want to do her work for her, and she needed me to, b/c she wasn’t very good at it. She also complained that she “had kids” and couldn’t stay late and do it.
I value my free time. Also, my name is not Rumple-fucking-Stiltskin, and it’s not my job to stay late, for no extra pay, to do someone else’s work for her b/c she got promoted into a job she lacked the talent for. Now, if someone needs my help and *asks* for it, and has been an ally in the past, etc., I will probably do it on a one-off basis. It can often be useful to have a positive balance in the “Favor Bank”.
She started screaming at me one one day that I ‘had’ to do thus and so for her, and I told her to get stuffed. She freaked and went to her boss, who went to my boss. What a cunt. That was my boss’ assessment, after I had given him my side of the story. And he was right.
So what did I do? Having explained shit to my boss (and I had a story to tell, how she tries to dump her work on me b/c she can’t do it, and how I solved a bunch of shit b/c it’s easy for me, and I’m willing to take one for the team once in a while, but I’m not simply going to be her bitch b/c she has a vagina and feels entitled.) My boss handled it with the other guy. Then he brought it up again two days later. I was able to quell it (I think she was still yapping; I had dummied up about it).
So what to do now? Two things: First, I went to HR. I had cultivated the Powers That Be in HR, so I had a built in Firewall. The best part was that the HMFIC in HR loved me and HATED the chick who was giving me shit. So that was that.
The second thing I did was start looking for a new job. They can’t fuck with you when you have options. So I found a better job and make 50% more than I would if I had stayed put. So fuck her. I also let other work she tried to dump on me stack up and then gave it all back to her on my way out the door. Muhahahahahahahahaha!
Make Yourself Indispensable, and Then Disappear
I basically work from wherever I want to and don’t have to go into an office anymore–it is Fucking HEAVEN! I do go in, from time to time, but only to renew connections and to see if they’ve hired any new talent, by which I mean 22 y.o. girls with tight 22 y.o. asses.
Remember the ‘sweat equity’ part? That helped. Go read “The Four Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss and “How to Relax Without Getting the Axe” by Stanley Bing. Bing has a whole section on doing what I do, pretty much.
How do I get away with it? I perform at a high level, I am always reachable, I have a unique set of skills and my employer understands that he pays me for PERFORMANCE not for attendance.
Have an Plan For When Shit Goes Bad
Always have two escape routes. Eventually, you are going to want to move up or move on. If I didn’t like what I do for a living, I could walk away and still make six figures doing what I do on the side, and by leveraging my contacts. Someday, I will do that, anyway.
Most people in CorporateLand are not curing cancer. That’s fine. AFAIAC, my job exists to fund my lifestyle. Nobody on their death bed says, *”I wish I’d spent more time at the office”.* As the Christians say, be in the world, but not of the world. Or something like that.
Mistral
Great points.
The one regarding friendship at work is crucial and I’m sure a lot of people got burned/dissapointed on that specific one. When I was in college, one of my teacher told us that there is a certain degree of friendship depending on the environment that you find yourself in. His theory is that there are basically different categories of people in your life and you should act accordingly to this degree of friendship. There are the people you don’t know yet (lowest degree), there are the people you know (someone introduced to you by someone else), there are the people you appreciate (someone you might have meet a couple of times), there are the people you trully appreciate and enjoy sharing time with, there are you “real friends” (those you have been around for years and know their worth) and finally there are people from work (who belong to another category). Acting accordingly to this degree will avoid any misunderstandings.
I see it as friends, family, workmates and acquaintances. I make sure they overlap as little as possible.
I hate HR people because they are the dumbest fucks on the planet. In particular, the HR co-op student job should be renamed the “What Retards Do After They Graduate” Program.
Mistral, excellent points and should be blended in with equally excellent article.
Very true. Even worse, it’s absolutely unbelievable what happened where I work. We are tied to federal contracts, so producing affirmative action/EEO numbers and showing stats of political correctness helps retain big contractual funding. So what did the HR feminazi twits at my work do to improve those numbers? They granted HR Generalist employees (themselves) with 2nd level Senior Management titles. We now have several female twits of whom would just be another $40K HR Generalist at any other company, now with Senior Management titles and $100K + salaries and private offices. One of my co-workers became physically ill after seeing that happen.
As someone whose life was essentially destroyed by these sluts, I can only offer my deepest sympathy to you and your co-workers.
Damn man, you should write articles on the red pill in the corporate world. I’m sure a lot of us on here would enjoy reading them.
You should see the shit I left out off that post. *evil grin*
I don’t know how many RoK readers are working in CorporateLand, but I’ve been an in-fighter for a long time and would be happy to help. The best thing they can do is read the Tim Ferriss and Stanley Bing books. I would especially recommend Bing’s “What would Machiavelli Do?” and “How to Relax Without Getting the Ax”–formerly titled “Executricks”.
The days of walking into IBM or GM or GE at 21 and walking out at 65 with a fat pension and a gold watch are Way Long Gone. It’s every man for himself these days, BUT….it need not be “Lord of the Flies”.
Every article you see titled “Gen X and Gen Y Have No Work Ethic” should be titled “Gen X and Gen Y refuse to be Treated Like Commodities; Boomers OUTRAGED!”
Why the Boomers expect loyalty when they offer none is beyond me. The RP Man in CorporateLand should have loyalty to (a) his paycheck and (b) those of his colleagues who have proven themselves worthy. That’s it. The assholes in the C-Suite would just as happily fire you if it it would make their stock go up a nickel as look at you.
I think the modern trend is going to be away toward entrepreneurship. One of the difficulties we face as a society is, “where will the jobs come from?” That is why I recommend that men have a trade. If you have a trade, then you won’t go hungry. Sure, technology is disruptive (yes, I am looking at you, Uber) but nobody in China or India or on the internet is going to fix your plumbing.
The LAST fucking thing I would recommend is piling on educational debt to the tune of $500k to get a BA and JD or whatever. It’s a disaster. The generation behind me can’t buy houses b/c they’re getting ass-raped on tuition and debt service thereon. It’s fucking INSANE. And the degrees people get, now. Gender Studies? I’d rather my daughter was a hooker; at least she’d be giving VALUE for her pay. I sit on our hiring committee and I ding everyone who has a shitstain degree. Women’s Studies? Best case she’s merely a lazy cunt. Worst case, she’s a lazy cunt who sues the firm. Fuck that. Same thing with anything else that’s fucked up.
Look, I got over. Sure, the economy sucked ass when I got out and I fought back and found a way to prosperity. Kids today are getting factored to a fare thee well. If I can help wargame a way over for the folks coming up behind me, I’m happy to help.
Sorry for the ramble, but that’s how I feel.
Mistral
I’ve got 2 more years left in my undergrad. Then depending on whether I decide to go to grad school or start working as soon as I finish, I’m looking at jumping into the corporate world at some point within the next 4 years.
Right now I’m just figuring out how it all supposedly works, so I appreciate the solid advice. Pretty much agree with everything you were talking about. I’ll try to check out those books sometime.
Kill it on your GPA. The labor market it tough, now. You need to stand out.
I think part of the value of college (and work) is meeting people and making contacts for later.
Really, I think the best path to wealth (or at least a comfortable, debt free lifestyle) is owning their own small business. If I was starting out now, I’d focus on being an entrepreneur. Ferris’ book is going to be more geared toward that. Bing’s books are more about life in CorporateLand and what to do/not to do. He has others aside from those I mentioned, but I think the real value is in those two, and possibly “Sun Tzu Was a Sissy”.
You are probably making money being Dubai port-a-potty.
Excellent article Oscar. The blending in of the 48 Laws makes a good article even better by giving real life, modern day examples.
There is a lot of truth to this article. Your savviness in establishing social alliances (rubbing elbows) helps tremendously as well as making yourself indispensable by becoming an expert/guru or a high performer by having your tentacles involved in other areas as well. It’s called a ‘rat race’, and those items will help you win SOME cheese in your career.
But within the corporate world, who wins the BIG cheese most of the time? It’s the individuals that do not have to partake in the ‘rat race’. These are people of whom are family, friends, or members of an extended network of those that make up the executive upper level positions going all the way up to the corporate board. And a lot of times the connections aren’t obvious. For example, there might be someone at your work that is a 2nd level manager high-paying manager with a college-age son/daughter. That 2nd level manager might have a personal friend at another corporation or company of whom has a college age son/daughter as well. 2nd level manager “A” calls 2 level manager “B” one night at home, and says, “Hey, my son is graduating college this year, can you give him a nice job at your company with guaranteed promotions? If so, I will hire your son of whom is graduating college in a few years and give him a nice spot within my department that I oversee.”
So with that, the rest of us get to play the ‘rat race’ while we watch the ‘special employees’ at work promote that don’t really seem to do much. Yes, hard work and playing the game well can get you very far BUT the actual stats are as follows: 65% make it far in the corporate world strictly due to connections. 30% make it through affirmative action/EEO. And the remaining 5% are individuals with no connections and no gender/minority protective status that make it to the top because they won the rat race through rubbing elbows and being a talented worker.
Other than that, if you cannot become the winning 5-10%, then if you want to make the big $$$, go start your own business.
Some managers will feel threatened if an employee below them is too good. They will then find ways to get rid of that person if they feel the person would be a better manager than them. A lot of executives don’t give a damn about the success of the company. They just care about their own money and that’s it.
I do something similar to this, it’s how I went from being the custodian, to assistant to now being the manager of operations at my company. I did that all in under 2 years.
Get the fuck away from any environment where you would need the skills of a woman to move ahead. There were two maybe three points a man could use, but the rest of them were how to work within a hen pecking order.
If you’re in the company of men then simply carry yourself with manly dignity, focus on knowing your job, don’t be one to cause needless drama, don’t be quick to accuse or quick to punish, and don’t set about trying to destroy your peers. You should view your peers as team mates, not opponents.
If you see your employees as liabilities then they will become them. Leadership isn’t about positioning yourself into a position of authority, it’s about developing yourself personally and having others naturally look to you. You can achieve this without having a position, and if you do then you have to remain humble about it.
If you’re truly concerned with your employees, sub contractors, and associates it will show. If you’re not, if you’re a cock sucker one dollar away from screwing over your own mother, then people will know and perform accordingly.
I left a former business partner after 2 years and after finding out he was embezzling money. Within 8 hours of my letter of resignation I had material suppliers, marketers, and companies from out of state calling me up and wanting to do business with me. I assume the secretary told them I had quit.
Point being, I never acted cocky, never acted haughty to people who were technically beneath me, and at the end of the day everyone knew who ran shit and who ran their mouth.
I look people in the eye, smile at them, listen to them, not as some listening tactic to make them feel valued but because I actually value them. I can’t imagine anything more wasteful than pretending to value something, not only for me, but for the person I would be patronizing.
Listen to what others say around the office but NEVER repeat it to anyone else in that environment. When you are a vault, people will tell you ANYTHING and nearly everything. Lots will be trite stuff but, when others tell you what they’re thinking, w/o you responding in kind, you have intelligence and they get to vent. They’ll keep coming back.