Page 104 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

tions reversed: five bullets and one
COOPERATE WITH empty chamber. You only survive if
YOUR your boss rises. Otherwise, you are fired
COUNTERPARTS IN or sent to Siberia.
OTHER PARTS OF Some of us at Commercial Credit
YOUR ORGANIZATION. weren’t so stupid.We knew that we were
IF THE POWER holding a revolver with five bullets and
STRUCTURE one empty chamber. And the answer
CHANGES AGAINST was, don’t pull the trigger. So we simply
YOU, THE PEOPLE got along with most of the staff players
WHO RISE in other divisions. And most of us sur-
REMEMBER THAT vived, even those of us whose bosses lost
YOU WERE A GOOD the race.
GUY. Cooperate with your counterparts in

other parts of your organization when-
ever you can. Don’t rumor monger. Try to accommodate them. If the
power structure changes against you, the people who rise remember that
you were a good guy. And you live to fight another day.

YOU WILL HAVE ENEMIES,
AND THEY WILL BE UNDERHANDED
Inevitably, despite your best efforts, you will make some enemies among
your peers.And by enemies, I do not mean those people who simply don’t
like you. I mean those people who are actively working to keep you from
moving ahead.
They turn into enemies for a number of reasons.
Some of your peers will be your enemies merely because they are back-
ing one of your rivals for the next job. The good thing about these enemies
is that you can spot them easily. They are the ones who always agree with
your rival in meetings, have lunch with your rival, socialize with your rival.
Even a seeing-eye dog can spot them.

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