Page 131 - Executive Warfare

Rivals

to pick everything. And when she speaks in a meeting, you have to shut
down. The empress has conquered your kingdom. She may have left you
your army, but you now have to kiss her ring.
Even your loyal army may not quite give you the respect they once did.
Now that the race is lost, they know that their fate, for the most part, is no
longer in your hands. You have another problem, too, which is that your
rival’s loyal lieutenants now have more power than you do. And you’re
cooling your heels waiting outside the new executive vice president’s office
while her staff people are whizzing in and out.
It doesn’t matter that you still have
50,000 people reporting to you. You
IF YOU REALLY
lost. And everybody knows. Your staff
BELIEVE THAT
knows. Your kids know. Your mother
YOU’RE MEANT TO
could have Alzheimer’s, but she’d still
RUN SOMETHING,
know enough to ask, “Didn’t you get
GO RUN
that job?”
SOMETHING.
And if you’ve been working together
with your rival for a long time and your
families are connected, it can be hard on them, too. Maybe your spouses
used to play golf together, and your kids used to get together for play dates.
Now your spouse thinks he or she has to wait for the other spouse to call.
A lot of this stuff is very personal. It’s why rivals seldom end up as lasting
friends.
In short, working for a former rival is very, very hard on the ego.
If your ego is one that says,“I can’t subjugate myself,”then you can’t do
it. So don’t.
If you really believe that you’re meant to run something, go run some-
thing. Maybe it’s smaller, and maybe it’s less prestigious than the organi-
zation you were hoping to run, but go run something anyway—and make
it bigger and more prestigious. You will be happier, and it will be better
for your career in the long run.

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