Some of its self serving, but lots of its self preservation. My VP is 100% a “whatever get me the next salary jump guy, no matter how stupid or short sighted or wrong it is.” That’s a bad thing, and I think we can all understand why.
Now, he’s clearly wrong, and in some cases, in ways I can prove. I could absolutely go to his boss or other execs and prove pretty thoroughly that what’s he’s doing is bad for the business. Not illegal, not breaking policy, but provably bad. What will also happen is that I will be fired, no matter how right I am, because me doing that threatens the hierarchy. So I don’t, and focus instead on applying the minimum possible work and CYA to make sure I don’t waste my time or get fired for not wasting my time.
In both cases, we are optimizing our careers over the health of the business. I would argue mine is less destructive and is based on survival rather than enrichment, but both acts fit the bill.
Some of its self serving, but lots of its self preservation. My VP is 100% a “whatever get me the next salary jump guy, no matter how stupid or short sighted or wrong it is.” That’s a bad thing, and I think we can all understand why.
Now, he’s clearly wrong, and in some cases, in ways I can prove. I could absolutely go to his boss or other execs and prove pretty thoroughly that what’s he’s doing is bad for the business. Not illegal, not breaking policy, but provably bad. What will also happen is that I will be fired, no matter how right I am, because me doing that threatens the hierarchy. So I don’t, and focus instead on applying the minimum possible work and CYA to make sure I don’t waste my time or get fired for not wasting my time.
In both cases, we are optimizing our careers over the health of the business. I would argue mine is less destructive and is based on survival rather than enrichment, but both acts fit the bill.