Anonymous Executive - The Modern Machiavelli: Playing Office Politics to Win

The most important thing to remember when reading this book is that politics comes from human nature weve been playing games in an attempt to get power for many thousands of years, well undoubtedly be doing the same several thousand years from now. This means that if you want to achieve anything useful in life, anything which involves success in society or with the help of others, then you need to understand politics. You can certainly ignore it for a while, you can ignore anything for a while. But this is relying on luck to develop your career and luck will eventually run out.

Why is it so important? It all comes down to the source of office politics, which is all about power . Gaining power, using power, distributing power, anything you can think of. Power can come in all forms, so well use a fairly broad definition here: Power is anything which lets you control the actions of other people. And office politics is the set of social relationships which you use to achieve this.

Power, of course, is what lets you achieve your goals which is why it has been so important throughout history.

Many people tend to assume that office politics is just a layer of discussion on top of the important stuff, the self-evident facts. This is not the case, politics gives meaning to the facts and helps you decide what the correct action to take will be. Politics doesnt provide you with a moral compass or require that you act with good intentions. Similarly there is a difference between moral actions and effective actions sometimes these may be the same, sometimes they are not. In fact well see in this book that many actions you can take to improve your career are gleefully amoral.

At this point many people ask, quite reasonably, why they should be learning any of this. Surely its enough to do an excellent job at your given tasks, impress your colleagues with this, and then ride that approval to a highly-placed and well-paying job? Right?

Well, no. The world is not fair, and the world of business even less so. Simply sitting there pretending that everything will be ok is a great way to find yourself left behind by those who are willing to play the game. If you want to excel in your career, then you will have to learn.

Still not convinced? Here are several good reasons to learn:

• Matrix-style management is everywhere : The traditional hierarchical organisation is fading away, being replaced by flat structures and matrix management roles. You will find yourself leading a team of people who have no formal requirement to do what you say, and success will require you to lead them without having authority to back you up. This is only possible with persuasion and charm the basic building blocks of office politics.
• Jobs are changing faster than ever : The days when we stayed in one company for our entire career are long gone. Short hops between roles create the fastest route up the organisational chart, which means you need to make a good impression fast. Understanding negotiation and influence lets you succeed even when you are new to the political power structure.
• It works : Simple as that, really.

First, however, you need to look at yourself and decide if you are really ready to engage in office politics. Hopefully the answer is yes (else this will be a very short book), but there are several basic things which you need to internalise first.

• Accept the idea of office politics : One of the first things you need to do is to accept that office politics is not bad, or sleazy, or any of those terms which people throw around. Politics is a natural part of any group of people it underlies our ability to lead others and to get things done, even in situations where the normal approach wont work. A team leader who understands politics is an incredible asset, one who can deliver success in the worst conditions.