Page 82 - Executive Warfare

EXECUTIVE W ARF ARE

becoming just as arrogant and difficult as he was, assuming that they’d
rise when he did. They pissed away 10 years of their lives.
Me, I was always loyal to Bob because I liked his style and considered
him the total manager. But my advice here is not to choose wisely when
you’re deciding which horse to hitch yourself to.
My advice is: Don’t hitch yourself
just to the best manager. Don’t hitch
BOSSES CAN HAVE
yourself just to the favorite. Don’t hitch
SURPRISINGLY
yourself just to your own boss. Instead,
SHORT LIFE SPANS.
understand that your career chariot
does not have just one set of reins—and
hitch yourself to as many people as possible.
You cannot predict what will happen in organizational life. You can
waste five years following somebody who decides one morning that he
wants to take an early retirement. I guarantee that this guy is not saying
to himself:“You know what? I’d really like to retire early, but I’m not going
to because David is depending on me.”
Another boss might decide,“I’m going to Lehman Brothers.”She might
make a deal with the bosses upstairs to get her bonus and have her options
vested in return for one concession: She won’t take anybody with her for
two years.What if you’ve been counting on riding this boss’s coattails? “So
long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night.”
You simply cannot depend on any
one individual to carry you. And if your
DON’T HITCH reputation is that of one boss’s Quasi-
YOURSELF JUST TO modo, it’s a good bet that any new boss
YOUR OWN BOSS. is going to look at you as someone he
INSTEAD, HITCH doesn’t want.
YOURSELF TO AS The trick is to ride a bunch of horses
MANY PEOPLE AS without running into conflict. And you
POSSIBLE. can do this by being a good interpreter
between camps. Carry information. Be

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