On Sat, 11 Mar 2000 23:19:21 PST
"phil osborn" <philosborn@hotmail.com> wrote of the Hobbesian war ongoing
at his job.
>Nevertheless, this behavior continued on the managers
>part, and numerous other people who made huge amounts of money for them
>walked out at various times. Finally, I started walking out. And suddenly
>they started treating me respectfully! So, I continued that behavior -
>walking out for the day and leaving critical projects hanging - and their
>behavior got even better!
I have a friend who has a remarkable talent for personal effectiveness,
stemming first and foremost from a good clear picture of Hobbesian reality
in which we all live. I marvel at the ease and calm deliberation with
which he optimizes his control of his personal situation.
After graduating from Heald in computer technology, and getting his first
job, THE VERY FIRST THING HE DID was start looking for another job, and
from that moment on he was NEVER without an alternate position waiting for
him should he, at any moment, need to avail himself of it. Consider the
brilliance of this action. Your bosses have no leverage, if you can leave
for a "better" situation at the first sign of "attitude" from someone in
what is generally regarded as a position of "greater power". Plus, on the
instant he had an offer for better money, he would walk into his superior's
office and stick it to him: "Match the offer or I'm gone." No begging.
Just pure, undeniable leverage.
He was, and is, always, calm and relaxed, pleasant with others, works the
way he wants to, takes lunch for as long as he wants to, etc. Seeing how
easily he has accomplished this, makes me think that the reason more people
don't do it is that they believe that being on the short end of the power
play is an inescapable feature of being in the lower echelons of the power
hierarchy. They believe it can't be done.
It CAN be done, and it's not really that hard, if you know how.
As my boy, Ray, has observed.
Best, Jeff Davis
"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
Ray Charles
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