Survival of the Savvy

🚀 The Book in 3 Sentences

This book is about navigating the corporate world of politics and still remaining a high-integrity individual. It contains guides on how to understand the world of corporate politics and not becomming a pawn. It contains realistic scenarios and is

🎨 Impressions

Paraphrasing Trotsky: "You might not be interested in Corporate Politics, but corporate politics is interested in you."

A lot of focus on integrity as an attribute to success, which sometimes after a political fight I feel might be a bit optimistic or naive. An interesting paradox described in the book is the failure of the non-political power of ideas people to succeed, even thou they act in the best interest of the company. I think the book had a cool theme and with good points. I think it would be nice for me to revert back to this book later.

Another link is the Systematics book review, which kinda explains the systematic approach to organizations and this is also a lot of that vibe to it.

Being nice to people and listening to their worries and their problems is crucial. It pays to be attentive. See Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes are High and Nonviolent Communication for tips.

✍️ My Top Quotes

A corporate survival-of-the-fittest situation does exist, especially in tough economic, competitive, and cost-conscious times.
Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives.
Two conditions determine whether organizational politics become constructive or destructive: Whether the targeted objectives are for the company’s interest or only self-interests; and Whether the influence efforts used to achieve those objectives have integrity or not.
When overly political people do whatever works to get into positions of power, they can damage competent, loyal people or pillage organizational performance.
Every time someone is let go, it’s not necessarily because of political dynamics, but often that plays a critical role in the “Why me?” career speed bump.
The oft-quoted words of Lord Philip Chesterfield over two centuries ago are still true: “Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning… is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of them.”
This book pinpoints recognizing political styles as the key for unlocking the door to enhanced organizational impact.
Power of Ideas people on the left side of our model are not necessarily apolitical or under political—just less politically driven than their right-side counterparts.
Power of Ideas people screen decisions through the question “Do my actions have integrity and are they good for the company?” They place ethics and what’s beneficial for the common good over personal success.
There’s an old European curse, “May you be blessed with a great idea and no one to implement it.”
“Any virtue carried to the extreme can become a crime.”
Alexandre Dumas wrote in The Count of Monte Cristo, “Any virtue carried to the extreme can become a crime.”
Power of Ideas (Less Political) people risk losing out to More Political people because of a “corporate survival of the savvy.”
The further left you are (Under Political) combined with the further right others are (Overly Political), the more you are at a disadvantage when competing for these five areas of political capital: (1) power, (2) credit for results, (3) who receives blame, (4) promotions, and (5) resources.
Honesty pushed to an extreme can hurt feelings, bruise egos, or leak information to people who use it against you.
Like organizational psychologist Jack Gibb, we define true trust as earned trust: Trust = Risk Successfully Survived.
This behavior is called fundamentalist, but there’s nothing “fun” when someone goes “mental” on you as a “fun-da-mentalist” reactionary.
Inflated integrity can mean a refusal to compromise, shooting oneself in the foot, like the sales manager we know who refused to let his people take clients or prospects to lunch. The executive ignored a common business courtesy, set up his sales force to look cheap, and blocked business development
In 1887, Lord Acton wrote in a letter, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The word sabotage is storied to be from the French word for wooden shoe, sabot, to recall how French workers threw their shoes into newfangled machinery to foil the efforts of industrial revolution bosses.
We warn any high-level person of “CEO disease,” which is the susceptibility to manipulation by other power trippers who know how to feed the runaway ego of a boss.
Self-Talk is an automatic mental habit, but we can tweak it if it doesn’t serve us well. This takes being fully aware of any negative internal messages about power, politics, and promotion.
“We don’t know who it was that discovered water, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.”
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld says this means if you’re at a funeral, you’re better off being in the casket than delivering the eulogy!
For instance, if you’re programming yourself to believe that all politics is a snaky game, you aren’t likely to get involved, even ethically, right? If you’re projecting untrue assumptions onto a colleague, you’ll probably treat her in ways that get you into hot water, right?
During family crises, one of our fathers used to calm the situation by reminding us that “no babies died.” One of our seminar instructors regains her perspective by comparing any job bummer to being in bullet-ridden wartime Bosnia: “Let’s see, we have my lousy performance-appraisal rating here and we have Bosnia over here. Bosnia… appraisal… Bosnia… appraisal.”
We hope we’re in alignment with you regarding four pillars of political awareness. The Need. Our individual-level wake-up call linked politics to career and job success. We made an initial leadership wake-up call linking politics and company success, and we’ll return to this organization-wide perspective later. Balanced Viewpoint . We shifted organizational politics away from the old definition of politics— poly (many)–tics (bloodsucking parasites)—to a value-free concept allowing for ethical means and ends to achieve “impact with integrity.” The Organizational Savvy Continuum . You have a cognitive framework for understanding the beliefs, preferences, strengths, and weaknesses of each political style. Your Reactions . You’re aware of Self-Talk that fuels your helpful or harmful attitudes, emotions, and actions within the political arena.
Official Position Power. Position power and rank, decision-making status, and lines of command form the skeleton of the power structure. This is clear from company organizational charts, approval chains, and sign-off protocols.
Identify the current top leaders in as many functions as you can across the enterprise. Be aware of the leaders at as many levels as is practical outside of your narrow slice of the company.
Unofficial Influence Power. Savvy leaders also read the white spaces on the organizational chart. Besides tuning your antennas to official position power, pick up on the informal influencers and power connections. Who is part of the favored inner circle and who are the outcasts? Do you know who’s wired in, who has the ear of top management, and who really makes the decisions?
When asked who the boss is between daddy and mommy: “Who is the boss? You have to ask that? I’m the boss. Mommy is only the decision maker.” Title can be just that—a mere title.
The mother calms her daughter’s worries about how the “boss” of that family will respond by reassuring her, “Toula, the man is the head, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants.”
Many companies call emerging leaders Hi Po’s, for “high potential” managers, and they are often put on a fast track of special training and grooming. This can even begin early in careers when “golden boys and girls” are plucked out of prestigious universities and put into high-visibility rotation programs for rapid advancement.
Once you know who holds the official, unofficial, and emerging power—your stakeholders—learn what matters to them. You’ll later learn to ethically lobby these people so that they are more likely to endorse your ideas, initiatives, and recommendations
Superstar negotiators gather every piece of information they can about the other party—how she thinks and feels, her passions and fears, current-event topics to avoid, and personal preferences such as favorites in food, music, sports, fashion, or entertainment.
One leading company in its field told us that the written rule is “balanced work and family life,” but that the unwritten rule is to balance between twelve-hour and sixteen-hour workdays.
You’ve heard the phrase “Perception is reality.” We prefer saying, “Perception isn’t reality, but people sure make decisions based on it.”
Some Power of Ideas managers equate networking to “kissing up,” or an imposition on people’s time. As politics-avoidant people avoid corporate events, their overly ambitious counterparts are tying together the shoelaces of colleagues to beat them to a table of powerful people.
You can’t change that people form and circulate buzz, but you can change your response. You can become the pilot of your corporate buzz, guiding how word about you travels through the company. Instead of being a victim of a negative reputation permeating the informal airwaves, broadcast your own buzz.
If you want to sell a car, you can’t keep it in the garage. —SHARON GRUNDFAST, SENIOR MANAGER AVON PRODUCTS LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
You’re not showboating—you’re showcasing. You’re not stealing credit, exaggerating your contributions, or plagiarizing.
Historians report that the fastidious British prisoners in World War II German camps on average did better at surviving the wrath of the Gestapo than POWs whose grooming fell by the wayside, along with their attitudes about the future.
Your Friends May Come and Go, but Your Enemies Accumulate
Invitation. Correlated more with the left side of the Organizational Savvy Continuum (but appropriately so, not weak), this word choice is more provisional and safer with a defensive Borderline Overly Political or clearly Overly Political person. Since you might threaten her even though you’re being firm, not harsh, play it safe by using phrases like these: what if; would it be possible; one alternative we might explore; I’d appreciate your ideas on a direction; we’re leaning toward this vendor but need your input and guidance.
These invitation-style lead-ins within the firm language range still present your recommendations but in a more ask-oriented manner. You’re not apologizing—just showing respect by inviting the other’s consideration.
Conviction. Now we edge toward the right side of the Organizational Savvy Continuum yet remain within the firm vocabulary range. Conviction language avoids being harsh (OP), but still conveys strength and self-assurance to generate a power impression. You’re stating your case in a bolder, tell -oriented fashion: I recommend; we strongly suggest; my advice is that we; based on my experience; our point of view is. Many Power of Person seniors respond well when you’re authoritative without being presumptuous. If you don’t cross the line into harsh wording, this more declarative method of packaging your ideas raises seniors’ estimation of you as you earn task-level trust.
You can sabotage your firm influence vocabulary if you forget to accent your words with confident body language and a committed-sounding vocal rate, tone, and volume.
On the other hand, sample conviction-slanted lead-in phrases are “Steve, we agree about the upside of conducting a public forum given the furor. I’m concerned about how local media could seize on the forum to push their editorial views.” “Martha, a challenge we’ll face in training the service reps in listening skills is that call handle time will initially increase while they feel awkward with new skills.” “Louise, if you’re serious about delaying the layoff announcement, an issue we may face is rumors circulating and the potential resentment when we finally break the news.”
Avoid the Words But and Problem.
But discounts everything you say before it:
I have never been hurt by anything I didn’t say. —CALVIN COOLIDGE
*Reinforce Her Contribution . “The system was great when you devised it. We would have been in trouble without it. But something you said to me yesterday got me thinking.” Plant the Seeds for Her to Think of the Idea . “Have you had any time to think about the current configuration of the system installation given the new factors that exist?”
Stroke Her Ego . “I was wondering if you had time to help me think through some potential enrichments to the system since you’re the resident technology guru.”
Face-Saving Lead-ins . Get used to injecting phrases like as you know or you’ve probably already been thinking this, but…
Remove Any Inkling of Blame . “There’s no way anyone could have predicted the growth we’ve had since the system conversion, not to mention changes in peripheral technology. But since these variables have entered the picture, I’m wondering…”
Link Your Idea to Image . “I’m excited about the visibility and kudos these upgrades will get our function” (aka, “Hey, boss, do you realize how great I can make you look?”).
Use We Language. Partnering with the senior lowers her feelings of blame or criticism and helps you gain some visibility and credit if she likes your idea.
Remember—You’re Still a Good Person! Just because you understand favors doesn’t make you opportunistic
Back to Networking. Build your network with an eye toward gathering a surplus in your political-favors bank account and paving the way for ethical lobbying. The wider the “net” in your network, the more potential “fish” you catch to support your ideas.
Master salespeople ethically reposition their product slightly differently to highlight how it supports various buyers’ unique needs.
The comedian George Carlin understands how it all works: “The environmentalists finally got it right. They figured out that no one wanted to give any money to swamps and jungles. So now they call it ‘wetlands’ and ‘rain forests.’”
It’s like a cruise ship whose turn is a wider arc. So, remember the Serenity Prayer that is widely used in the Alcoholics Anonymous organization: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.
Believe in giving the benefit of the doubt. But when the other person gets all the benefit and you get all the doubt, you’re eligible for lifetime membership in the Naïve Club.
“Pick Battles Big Enough to Matter, Small Enough to Win.” This quote from Jonathan Kozol counsels carefully weighing the decision whether to play hardball.
One Nazi concentration camp survivor inspired his son by letting go of bitterness, proclaiming that the Nazis took five years of his life and that he refused to give them one second more.
Make no mistake—all organizations are political. Just because your company may be less political doesn’t mean your culture is nonpolitical
One CEO in a more openly political organization said, “At least around here, when someone is in the penalty box, you know it.”
Barron’s “Executive Excess 2003” study found that the highest-paid CEOs had the most mediocre performance and greatest pay inequity. Among fifty companies with the most layoffs and underfunded pensions, CEOs earned paychecks that surged 44 percent the next year, compared with a median 6 percent pay increase in other organizations.
Jim Hightower’s Thieves in High Places reports that the twenty-five companies with the highest-paid CEOs, COOs, and CFOs in the years from 1999 to 2003 (with salaries totaling $23 billion) saw their stock plummet 75 percent, prompting Fortune magazine to call the list “the twenty-five companies with the greediest executives.”
You may incredulously ask, “Why do these people think it’s OK to break the rules?” The answer is—because they can! Some people cynically believe that breaking rules is resourceful, enterprising, and creative.
David Geffen, now worth almost $4 billion through his DreamWorks brainchild, falsely told William Morris Agency he’d graduated UCLA after discovering that a college degree was required for advancement. He then intercepted and destroyed a letter sent by UCLA to set the record straight.
Someone once asked Willie Sutton, the famous bank robber, why he robbed banks. Willie replied, “That’s where the money is.”
If we ask why CEOs are targets of deception, the answer is “That’s where the money is”—in the form of salary, bonuses, options, pensions, and perks.
A Wall Street maxim is “Fear and greed move markets.”
We’ve already referenced CEO disease, whereby leaders believe all the compliments they receive, so we have to “cure them” by telling them, “You might not be as smart, funny, or good-looking as others are saying.”
The conceited executive believes he can size up people and situations well, but if he has weeded out the people who speak the truth and is surrounded by people who give him self-serving or filtered information, he may be seriously out of touch with what is really going on inside and outside the company.
Decisions about romantic partners, friends, financial partners, salespeople, consultants, and politicians are “bets” we make on other people.
Gloria Steinem said that more men than women gamble because “women satisfy their entire urge to gamble when they get married.”
Do not judge your brothers and sisters, for there are secrets in their hearts that would make you weep. —ANONYMOUS, FROM A WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT
Enron whistle-blower Sherron Watkins testified that her internal memo to Chairman Ken Lay nearly got her fired by the CFO.
Confucius said, “A man who commits a mistake and doesn’t admit it is committing another mistake.”
Install processes so that informal team feedback occurs regularly. One method is to end team meetings with a “debriefing session.” At this time people share their reactions to the meeting, including feedback to one another about
More than anything, your own willingness to be an exemplar of receiving feedback nondefensively sparks a feedback-rich environment.
Reinforce the person’s integrity and urge future forthcoming communication: “Jerry, I have to be honest. I’m not thrilled this happened, just as you aren’t. But I really appreciate that you trusted me enough to come and tell me.
The moment of truth has arrived. Does your company’s political climate stand up to the “soccer game test”? Are people comfortable going to their kids’ sporting events while wearing a T-shirt displaying the company name?
He that gives good advice builds with one hand. He that gives good counsel and example builds with both. But he that gives good admonition and bad examples Builds with one hand and pulls down with the other. —FRANCIS BACON
Peter Drucker, management guru, captured the responsibility of the individual leader in setting the values vision: “The final proof of the sincerity and seriousness of leadership is uncompromising emphasis on integrity of character.”
Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others. —GROUCHO MARX
Dostoyevsky wrote, “If a man lost his soul overnight, at least he would notice the loss and be desperate to restore. But men lose their souls so gradually that they don’t notice it until it is too late.”