Member-only story
Corporate Power Plays
Don’t be fooled by the companies that boast of their collaborative culture: the corporate world is dog-eat-dog
The corporate world is dog-eat-dog: to reach the top, you must assert your dominance — and subvert your colleagues’ efforts to dominate you.
Fortunately for you, I’ve put together this handy manual of corporate power plays — some old (with new nuances in the remote-first workplace) and some new.
“Let’s take a step back”
When you tell people to take a step back, what you are suggesting is that they are all missing the forest for the trees. Luckily, you have the strategic vision and the commercial nous to see the big picture and guide your organization through the dark woods. By asking that everyone stop doing work to ponder your exposition on product-market fit, user touchpoints, or (if you’re older) Porter’s Five Forces, you are cementing your position as the company’s de facto thought-leader.
- Things to watch out for: in general, there aren’t many pitfalls with this one, as long as you do not use it when actual work needs to happen immediately. This is rarely the case in most workplaces, but avoid using this tactic if you work in a hospital.
- Common variants: ‘time-out’, ‘take it…
