A Noob's guide on Corporate Job - Lesson 1 - Covert Aggression

I consider politics to be a waste of energy and intellect, but as per my upbringing I got a corporate job and had to encounter the politics it involved. Let me tell you people are NOT nice, they can be mean ruthless and whatever you can imagine. Naive people are often crushed and removed. I learned it slowly and the hard way and still struggle with it. If you have just started your new job, you are eager to grow and learn and you are not born with a silver spoon as far as job prospects are concerned, read on!

Working almost 8 years in technology industry, I have learned the following lessons:

(1) Talent wins in the long run and in life
(2) If you have talent, people with lower talent will try to take credit for it
(3) There are a lot of lazy people in the world
(4) DSM personality disordered people cause the majority of agony for majority of people
(5) Success is temporary in your current company, change when needed
(6) The more you progress, the more the manipulation increases

This post will focus largely on "Covert Aggression", a psychological tactic used by personality disordered people to attack their victims. I was completely unaware of this term, but I had a gut feeling that something was amiss with my reporting manager in my third company. I only lasted 7 months in that company, I was told to leave even after doing my work nominatively. Let's divide the lesson in 5 parts, which I feel you can divide your experience in your organization and apply the lessons I learned there as well. These parts will be: (1) Players (2) Hierarchy (3) Measures of work (4) Personal Goals (5) Strategies

(1) Players
Players are people who you work along with and divided as per business function. In my case, I was dealing with people from HR, Finance, Sales, Marketing. Ofcourse, there is also your boss - the main function of your woes. I was only lucky in my second job, when I got very got bosses - which need to be rightly called as leaders who taught me things properly. The relation with the boss is a pivotal factor in your job life, but it is not the center-piece as some claim. But, if your boss is corrupt and so are your colleagues, watch out!

My case - My boss was an a-hole, to put it lightly. A pure covert aggressive man, who was a pampered child of a banker. Some of my colleagues were good, others were not. One was a friend and still is, but had some political inclination, which is his choice and does not bother me much. My good work was a problem for my boss, shocking, isn't it?

My lesson - It is good to have a healthy relation with your boss and colleagues - both can cross you!

(2) Hierarchy
Where you are in the corporate game? Know this as early as possible, people gauge you accordingly and brush shoulders accordingly. Power games are based on hierarchy, the top man/woman calls the shots and rest of the people follow. Strategic decisions are taken by the top, mostly without the consent of those who are lower in the hierarchy.

My case - I was hired in a consultant role, so my place was a bit flexible. Not the lowest, but the highest either. You can say I was an entry-level manager in a company of 50 people. I had direct contact with the CEO and CTO on many occasions.

My lesson - Hierarchies can be broken, when your point needs to be shown and your work needs to be shown. Do not rely on your boss to show your work on the upper echelons of power.

(3) Measures of Work
This means what you are being paid for, why the company hired you, what is the company benefit from you. HR will call this KRA (Key Result Areas) or any other similar name. But there is a hidden measure as well, which is decided by the culture of the company and that by the boss. The boss's sweet spot is not a function of your sweet spot, it is the other way around. Your sweet spot is a function of your boss's sweet spot.

My case - My boss was not very efficient and did not take responsibility on many occasions. A work pusher and absent from action, but was active when credit was to be taken. But, he did have good contacts, mainly due to his loud voice and dominating characteristics.

My lesson - Doing less than what was asked for could have saved my job. But being who I am and not the brown-nosing type, I was at logger heads with my boss at times and was teaching him at times. It did not serve me well in that 7 month job, but it served me well in the longer run.

(4) Personal Goals
These are your goals, you are the main protagonist of your life, the CEO of the company is not more important than you as far as your life is concerned. Never forget that put them on the pedestal, find and know your value and your goals. Are you earning money to enjoy life? To party? To do a side-project? To get out of the rat race? This you must ponder, because a job is a business deal, period. It is not a charity - neither for you, nor for your company.

My case - I was young then, in my late-twenties, I think I was 28 or so. I was making money and had a dream to travel outside my country, which I did :) My other personal goal was to start a business, which was a part of a greater picture you can say. But, the money helped me to start in the direction of forming a business and enjoying life.

My lesson - Learning is never a bad goal. Learn as much as possible, as widely as possible. It will lead you to greater heights and deeper depths of your being. Brown-nosing can be an option for some, but it has to be avoided if you want to steam ahead in life. No risk, no return.

(5) Strategies
These are strategies to work in your company. How much to work, what to do, what to say, how to interact. This can vary and are dependent on all the above points, and guided by your personal goals.

My case - As an example, I wanted to learn as much as possible, so even though it was not my job, I did programming to create custom software in-order to create work estimates. I also was earning well enough to live alone and have a decent lifestyle with a gym membership. So I worked hard on my job and did what was told, sometimes stepping out of the border of the work being asked.

My lesson - I could have brown-nosed and shook my head like a cow, but I did not. The company needed my role to be filled and I over-justified my payment, while I was self-learning (and teaching sometimes). I could have better relations with higher-ups, but I did not know how to do that and trusted my boss to do that, which turned out to be my Achilles heel.

One fine day, my boss called me and told that I was to be let go of or I request my resignation myself. I chose the later to help my "career" in the long run. But, his reason for it was a minor mistake in a document. His agenda was saving himself in front of higher-ups and not me. Before that he told I did a bad job, when I was innovating and told me that I did an amazing job when I was lax. I researched alot and found this book - "In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People". LET THIS BOOK BE YOUR GUIDE TO DEALING WITH BAD PEOPLE IN THE JOB. It is a must read and save you a lot of agony, as it tells you how to save yourself from these ugly people. And let me tell you there are a lot of them in the world. These people use covert aggression as their main weapon of choice. Their number is increasing as women keep marrying the wrong guys and absent fathers. The spoken word and physical movement is all you need in front of manipulative people, to control them and defend yourself as you progress in life.

Key detections on covert aggressive people:

(1) These people lie, they do not care about truth
(2) Power and money is a magnet to soothe their insecurities
(3) Their childhood was probably bad
(4) Their brain literally is wired differently, they feel joy in other's pain
(5) Do not see them as a normal human, you will suffer if you do so
(6) They are dominating and have a grandiose self-image
(7) Their thoughts do not match their actions and will not keep promises
(8) In terms of their spouse, he/she will be rich or treated badly by them
(9) They have reactions sometimes, that 90% of people will normally not have -
eg. saying "Do you want to kill me, I bet you do" - this is projection - beware!

Using these points, you need to chart your course in the corporate world and maneuver accordingly. Use your talent as a weapon if need be, it can be the main thing they are scared of. I have done that in a different company and kept my boss scared of me, it was a joy to see. But, if you are unable to tolerate, just change your job, it can be in your best interest of health and well-being.

Let's visit back on the 5 parts of this lesson:

(1) Players
Your boss will likely have covert aggression tactics, you need to check this as per any matches of the above 8 pointers. Take a note of that, and plan accordingly. Do take not of your colleagues also, according to the same list above.

(2) Hierarchy
Most covert aggressive people have serious mental issues - bipolar disorder, narcissism, anti-social behavior, etc. 2% of the population have narcissism and these are many times CEOs of big organizations. But, these people like being praised, use it as a weapon against them, but do so cautiously for if you are caught they will play as the victim.

(3) Measures of Work
Covert aggressive people will use their tactics to take credit for your work and will use veiled threats of physical violence. If you see this, report to the HR immediately, it is very unhealthy and the threats will likely increase with time. Show your work to the right person, beyond your boss, there will always be someone worth talking to about it.

(4) Personal Goals
Do not tell your personal goals to such people, for they will use that information to damage you. I have done that mistake once and it is avoidable. Such people often have flying monkeys - aka minions who gather information on their behalf. Detect if they ask personal information suddenly and lie if you need to, but do not tell personal information. Confuse them with an intelligent lie so that minion - boss trust is broken.

(5) Strategies
It is not given in any book or I have not heard of it, but you can use the company grapevine to your advantage. All communication suffers from loss of information and information sometimes circles back. Use this to your advantage and check for signs of nods and stares - these things tell way more than we think they do. And always go by your gut feeling, your hunch is created by nature for a reason.

Furthermore, it is better to avoid keeping your job as a the primary goal in life. It has not served me well, as I am a performer and not a lazy man. Find ways to start your own business - Blockchain and AI/ML are hot technology fields as of now. Where-ever you work in the technology industry, I wish you luck and would like to give you guidance in the comments section, if you so ask.

Happy Growing!