Page 47 - Executive Warfare

Attitude, Risk, and Luck

wound up in better jobs. But Oscar? He had gone from somebody who
was going places to a mere curiosity.
The truth is that there are always office romances. People spend a lot
of time together, it happens. There is no illusion that everybody in the
workplace is a saint, and everybody
makes mistakes. But there is a big dif-
ference between playing with matches THERE ARE ALWAYS
and doing what Oscar was doing, which OFFICE ROMANCES,
was walking a tightrope over a volcano. BUT THERE IS A BIG
And be aware that even the most DIFFERENCE
benign and above-board office romance BETWEEN PLAYING
has consequences. Make sure of your WITH MATCHES
ground before you make any kind of AND WALKING A
romantic overture to a coworker because TIGHTROPE OVER A
you’re changing the dynamic forever,one VOLCANO.
way or the other. If it turns into a rela-
tionship that’s really going, one of you is
probably going to have to leave. If it doesn’t, it will be very hard to main-
tain the same collegial relationship you had in the past.
With every office romance, somebody is going to move on faster than
natural laws would dictate. So think about whether it’s worth it.

CONFORMITY IS NOT A PREREQUISITE FOR POWER
You have to be discreet in your personal behavior to rise, but you don’t
have to be a conformist. Every ambitious person is going to take some
knocks. If you try to fit the mold of your organization too much, the rap
will be that you are too dull or too dry or too sycophantic. So you might
as well be yourself and get points for having the courage of your own style.
Although I was as ambitious as the tip of a blue flame, by the time I
reached John Hancock, I did not even try to fit in. I tried to avoid com-
pany-sponsored social events as much as possible.With some of my supe-

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