Monday, November 26, 2007
Speak softly, but carry a big stick
A fortune cookie I got, “First they ignore you, then they attack you, then you win” couldn’t be more relevant to my current work situation.
I suppose I got the job because I’ve made my career understanding and enumerating “intangibles” though empirical approaches, a skill they are paying a lot for. Once in the door I now realize the skill needed to do this job is, apparently, political.
It came as a surprise to me that my efforts largely fell on deaf ears, at least initially. This is mostly because my boss, an argumentative bully, has it in her mind that the only good ideas are hers; every day she seemes to remind me how much experience she has while casually insulting my ideas (never mind the fact that my education and consulting experience has trained me far better than she will ever acknowledge, and for more complex things.)
I think my boss relies on me because she has no other choice; my peers have all quit, she was the one who hired me, and there’s so much work that even this control-freak, micro-managing individual has had to take her eye off me. A number of triumphs in the Cosmetics department have solidified my place as a respected and intelligent resource – it also helps that I’m far more pleasant than her to work with. I guess I’ve become a force for her to reckon with. This is not the most pleasant place to be.
She is openly hostile to almost everything I do. Projects involving her are a sort-of sick intellectual tango that we are both are trying to lead. It goes without saying that she and I have completely different ways of approaching problems and I find myself having to compromise a lot of my training in order to work with her. It’s ugly.
It’s come to the point where my favorite part of the work day is reading on the commute in. (It’s so relaxing.) At work, I have to be a shark: acutely aware of my surroundings, circling round and round, never resting, and waiting for the weak point. Apparently this is life in corporate America, especially in Manhattan.
I’m hoping to come to the part where “I win.” For the time being, I’ve found myself being attacked. But I’d rather be attacked than be the unnoticed, irrelevant plant-life nobody wants to go after. I have to be careful, though, play the game, and wait for the truce.
I've thought about quitting, but with the last job being similar in circumstance, I will tough it out and show that I can deal with this - this is the next step in my career. (Higher up in the corporate world is nothing like the cushy jr. R&D jobs I've had, but they pay for it.)
I'm learning.
I suppose I got the job because I’ve made my career understanding and enumerating “intangibles” though empirical approaches, a skill they are paying a lot for. Once in the door I now realize the skill needed to do this job is, apparently, political.
It came as a surprise to me that my efforts largely fell on deaf ears, at least initially. This is mostly because my boss, an argumentative bully, has it in her mind that the only good ideas are hers; every day she seemes to remind me how much experience she has while casually insulting my ideas (never mind the fact that my education and consulting experience has trained me far better than she will ever acknowledge, and for more complex things.)
I think my boss relies on me because she has no other choice; my peers have all quit, she was the one who hired me, and there’s so much work that even this control-freak, micro-managing individual has had to take her eye off me. A number of triumphs in the Cosmetics department have solidified my place as a respected and intelligent resource – it also helps that I’m far more pleasant than her to work with. I guess I’ve become a force for her to reckon with. This is not the most pleasant place to be.
She is openly hostile to almost everything I do. Projects involving her are a sort-of sick intellectual tango that we are both are trying to lead. It goes without saying that she and I have completely different ways of approaching problems and I find myself having to compromise a lot of my training in order to work with her. It’s ugly.
It’s come to the point where my favorite part of the work day is reading on the commute in. (It’s so relaxing.) At work, I have to be a shark: acutely aware of my surroundings, circling round and round, never resting, and waiting for the weak point. Apparently this is life in corporate America, especially in Manhattan.
I’m hoping to come to the part where “I win.” For the time being, I’ve found myself being attacked. But I’d rather be attacked than be the unnoticed, irrelevant plant-life nobody wants to go after. I have to be careful, though, play the game, and wait for the truce.
I've thought about quitting, but with the last job being similar in circumstance, I will tough it out and show that I can deal with this - this is the next step in my career. (Higher up in the corporate world is nothing like the cushy jr. R&D jobs I've had, but they pay for it.)
I'm learning.
# posted by otas : 5:18 PM
