7/23/2019 p&P politics and power

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Ruthless and immoral players give the game of oce politics a bad name.

Because people driven solely by personal gain or other

selsh motives are seldom successful in the long run, winning the political game

requires that you consider the ethical implications of your decisions. Given that

most of us work for pay, ethical issues on the ob often come down to the

question of what we are willing to do for money. !nly a tiny minority of people

would agree to kill or harm someone for cash. But, would you lie"

#alsify records" #ail to report violations of law" $olerate unsafe working

conditions" %our automatic response is likely to be, &'o, of course not() $hink

about it another way, though* imagine you+ll be red if you refuse to falsify a

report. 'ow, would you do it" n the realm of ethics, only actions

count. %our moral code is communicated not by what you say you believe, but by

what your behavior actually demonstrates. -uring the course of a career, almost

everyone will encounter thical /oments0situations that force us to decide

whether or not to live up to our personal standards. !ne of my thical /oments

occurred when was responsible for internal communications in a large

corporation. 1hen a highlevel manager suggested sending out false information

to employees, reali2ed that lying to people who relied on me for accuracy was

not something could live with. But did not leap to my feet and cry, &%ou liar(

3ow could you ask me to do such a thing") nstead,

simply e4plained that if we were caught in an obvious lie, our future credibility

would be ruined. #ortunately, this pragmatic reasoning was accepted by the

e4ecutive, whose value system did not e4actly highlight honesty. was relieved

not to have to lay my career on the line for this issue, but did reali2e that would resign before sending out information that was blatantly untrue. 5uch

decisions are easier when you have clearly dened your moral parameters.

6olitical ntelligence requires a thorough understanding of the dynamics of

leverage, which simply means your ability to get others to do what you want. f

this conures up visions of people umping to obey at the crack of a whip, you+ve

got the wrong view of leverage. $hose who try to control others through abusive

power and authority usually fail in the long run0or someone stabs them in the

back at the rst opportunity. 1hen you increase your leverage in more

appropriate ways, though, you can be a 1inner in the game of oce politics0

and in other areas of life as well.