The Single Most Important Aspect Of Your Career

Do you want to get a promotion and make a lotsummarize, for these people it is all about
more money? Do you want to be recognized forself-preservation and self-promotion.Are the ?Big
your hard work? Do you want to keep your job andFish? unethical or self-absorbed? No, the successful
not be downsized? In fact, do you want to knowpeople just want excellent employees working for
the secret to be Upsized? The most important skillthem and they expect results. If you were in a
you will ever learn is how to study and understanddog-sled race would you want a team of Siberian
Office Politics.Office politics plays a very importantHuskies or Chihuahuas? The answer is obvious; you
role in whether you get a promotion, an award, thewould want to win the race so you would want the
job that you want, or the compensation that youbest team available.Can this information be helpful to
receive. Virtually every aspect of your professionalyou? Let me ask you:1. Do you think you stand a
career is influenced by social politics. The properbetter chance of getting a promotion working for a
understanding of the social ?food chain? in your work?little fish? or a ?Big Fish??2. Is your chance of getting
space is essential for your professional success anda good raise better or worse if the VP knows your
financial well-being.To understand why thename and the projects you have worked on?3. Are
organization works and how to use that informationyou more or less likely to move up in the company if
to your advantage, you must first understand howyou are working on a ?Big Fish?s? pet project?The
the ?Big Fish? act and think. Who are the ?Big Fish??bottom line is this?If you align yourself with a ?Big
They are the decision makers, the people who areFish? you will be considered for more opportunities
up-and-coming in the company and the people whothan you would ever have working for a ?little fish?.
hold ultimate power in the company. These are theWhy? The reason is because people trust people
CEO?s, Presidents, VPs, managers, and supervisorswho can get the job done. If the ?Big Fish? trusts
who are what I consider to be ?in favor?.When ityou then he/she will be comfortable giving you more
comes to these ?Big Fish? they typically care onlyand more responsibility. And with more responsibility
about two things. The first is how they can takecomes promotions and A LOT more money.Study
credit for increasing the effectiveness of theyour office politics and align yourself with a ?Big Fish?
company and the second is who around them canand will progress your career farther and faster than
get the results they need to be successful. Toyou ever could have imagined.