First, Trent said: I know very well this article is biased towards people working in the information economy. That’s my primary audience.

I guess you know your audience (either the actual audience that reads your blog day-to-day, or the audience you’re gearing your blog toward) but I was under the impression that your audience consisted of anyone who has an interest in personal finance and who hopes to continually improve their financial knowledge and avoid making costly financial errors.

For Allison & BigRed, my point was not that it wasn’t important to be on good terms with the support staff if you work in an office environment, it was that a significant chunk of the staff in offices consists of the support staff!

It’s not useful advice, for example, for the receptionist who would like to eventually become an executive secretary to the CEO.

She doesn’t need to be told to make friends with her peer group and there are no people below her on the totem pole (with the possible exception of the cleaning staff, whom she may never see in a typical office situation). She doesn’t go to conventions, she doesn’t have an opportunity to present, etc. But the office environment or the particular industry she works in is her chosen career.

The same could be said of the new high school graduate at the fast food fry station who dreams of owning a similar franchise by the age of 35. And the examples could go on, but I think you get the idea.

The point I was objecting to was that not everybody who reads this blog is in a white collar/management type position. In many ways I think that the folks who are in support or service positions are the ones who really need the most advice about how to get ahead and I would have liked to have seen that addressed *as well*.

And, finally, KarenFLA was absolutely “spot on” in her comments. Anyone who has a support staff should know how critical that staff is to success in business, and those who don’t automatically treat their support staff well are short-sighted, to say the least.

I got that simple quote from another forum which I cant remember where =(

I think that pretty much sums up everything about the whole “suck-up” business.

I couldn’t have gotten through grad school without the help of a lot of people, including the front office staff in the department (who didn’t work for me, by any means!). They saved my bacon on a number of occasions. The cleaning guy even helped me relocate a really important stack of papers I had thrown out in a sleep=deprived daze, so I was really glad I had taken the time to know his name and be kind to him.

Erica–yes, the suck-ups seem to win, but have you ever noticed that nobody can stand to be around them? And, eventually, the bosses change and the suck-ups are seen as “legacy” weenies, and find themselves out of a job. Like Trent said, the idea-people and the ones that you go to when you need help or a sounding board are NEVER the suckups. They are really to be pitied, because they don’t have any idea what they want.

On the related note, about not being a yes-man. I’ve been fortunate in my own career to work with people who are erudite and positive, and they always find a way to affirm others, but I’d never describe them as yes-men. Flattery is like flirting–a little of it can really smooth social interactions, but too much is cloying and fake. You can use the affirmation to then add your own ideas and commentary: “As John just said, the customer really doesn’t know what they want, and I agree–so, we should put together a strawman list of suggestions to help the customer in our next meeting with them.” This is affirming what John said, and then furthering the statement to make a positive contribution and keep the meeting going. Our company just had a webinar called “Optimism”, which was the sort of feel-good hippy stuff that you’d expect (no group hugs though–virtual is good!), but the presented noted that the person who really is “leading” the meeting or group isn’t always the person with the nicest suit or the official title–it’s the person or people who are seen as being positive and getting things done. Not the naysayer who thinks he or she is brilliant for contributing all the reasons something won’t work. Those people are energy sucks.

Bravo for the hand-written note comment too–it is such an unexpected touch in today’s world of emails and convenience, and shows that you really are thinking of the person.

Great post Trent. Gold star comments too!

I know very well this article is biased towards people working in the information economy. That’s my primary audience.

http://www.thinkyourwaytowealth.com

I am guilty of not having managed my career well, and having had this kind of suggestions drilled into my head would have been worth a couple of grand a month for the last umpteen years.

I am keeping a log book of your posts that will do my children tons of good as they launch themselves into the work force.

Thanks for sharing such gems selflessly.

Cheers