Office Politics 101 STORYTIME

Once upon a time, I had this manager who didn't much care for me. In fact, it goes as far as to say that he hated my guts. This was well before I became the queen of office politics, I was still figuring it out back then, still muddling along. Lucky for me, I had a narcissistic father who was very good at business. And side note, that actually does help you a lot in life. I mean, it will traumatize you, but like, at the same time, you will make a lot of money, so, you know, pick your struggle. Anyway, I didn't much care that this man did not much care for me. What I really cared about though was that he was blocking my progress within the company. He kept key projects, he kept saying, well, you can't come to this meeting because we're talking about, well, exactly what you're supposed to be working on. This man did not want me getting any visibility within the company or working on any projects. Now, I was not surprised by this. The man who was promoted despite having no experience in the role whatsoever. And so when they hired me, they were like, oh, you're going to support him, you're going to support him. So basically, what that meant was that you're going to do all the work and this man gets to take credit for it. At one point, I decided, well, I'm sick of this. I want to come out of hiding. I want to be a corporate star. Mind you, the stakeholders would ask this man questions in meetings and he would be unable to answer. So I would step in and be like, this is the answer to what you're asking. And he would be visibly mad. Like, his eye would be twitching and his bald head would turn red. So one day I decided to ask for more responsibility. I said, hey, here's everything I've been able to deliver on, all the skills that I brought with me into the company. And I thought he would promote me. And he sees this and he goes, well, I don't think you're ready. I don't think you're ready yet. So I said, fair enough. Maybe there's stuff about the job that you do know. What do you think I need to do in order to be ready? And he just couldn't give me a straight answer. He kept going, well, you're doing great where you are. You're doing fantastically where you are. So I said, that's fantastic. I'm so glad to know I'm doing well at this company. So what else do I need to do well elsewhere? And he was like, well, let's talk about this in four weeks. Four weeks come along. I said, hey, I'm ready now. He didn't really have any pushback because I put him on the spot. And he was like, okay, fine. You can come, you can work on the project, but you cannot speak in meetings. I said, cool. Or when is it? When will I take it? Four weeks come along. I said, hey, I'm ready now. He didn't really have any pushback because I put him on the spot. And he was like, okay, fine. You can come, you can work on the project, but you cannot speak in meetings. I said, cool. When is it? When will I take it? He said, tell me why the night before the kickoff of the project. The night before the day before the kickoff. When all the stakeholders and CEOs and everyone is supposed to come together and appear to talk about the project. He calls me. My time, it's 8 PM. And I'm like, why is this man calling me? But I was curious. And curiosity did get the best of me. He says, I want you to prepare the slides. And I was like, you want me to make the slides for you to present? He goes, no, you're going to do the presentation and you're going to handle everything. I was like, what? I'm panicking. I'm freaking out. I start doing this. I did not finish until like 5 AM the next day. And at that point, I already had to start getting ready for work. So I got ready for work and I headed down to the meeting room. And as I'm setting up the projector, I'm ready to go. I'm still nervous. I'm still nervous because it's the first time I've done this, you know? He just sprung this on me at the last minute. This man walks in. He says, thank you, thank you for setting up. He opens his laptop. He has a perfect presentation ready there. And I know he didn't make that presentation himself. He got somebody else to do it. Because he did not know what the hell he was talking about. So he starts presenting. I'm still there like, what's going on? In fact, he had the nerve to be like, you can take a seat. What are you doing? Making me look stupid in front of everyone. I was like, oh, I was burning on the inside. He does the presentation and he finishes. And everyone's just asking him self-level questions. He's like, answering. He's smiling. He's smirking at me. I noticed. And I'm sure that wasn't my imagination because I again, I have a narcissistic dad who's good at business. I asked him another question. He couldn't answer it. So I said, oh, you know, I'll let Lucas answer that. I said, thank you so much, Lucas. I know you've been working really hard on this project. So back to, power is a drug and I was high off my own supply. I asked him another question. He's stuttering again. He couldn't answer it. So I said, oh, you know, I'll let Lucas answer that. I said, thank you so much, Lucas. I know you've been working really hard on this project. So back to, power is a drug and I was high off my own supply. He says, you seem to know a lot about this. And Lucas seems to know a lot about this. So why don't you both collaborate? And that was the moment I decided to get into office politics. I asked him another question. He couldn't answer it. So I said, oh, you know, I'll let Lucas answer that. I said, thank you so much, Lucas. I know you've been working really hard on this project. So back to, power is a drug and I was high off my own supply. He says, you seem to know a lot about this. And Lucas seems to know a lot about this. So why don't you both collaborate? And that was the moment I decided to get into office politics.