Post by oldman on Oct 20, 2013 4:41:51 GMT 7
I am fortunate to have gone through the experience of being a professional to working as an employee and finally, to running my own business.
It is fair to say that it is easiest to deal with colleagues when you are a professional. This is because professionals working in an organisation tend to have the same objectives. As a medical doctor, our foremost consideration is the well being of the patient. We will do whatever in our powers to ensure that the patient gets the most optimal care, usually with little regards to the cost of this care. Nurses and ancillary workers assist doctors and they too have the same clear objectives of giving the best care possible.
Our promotion within a professional organisation is usually independent of our work colleagues. Hence, there is much less enmity and 'competition' among professionals. This is especially true in the government sector where I spent most of my professional life in the UK.
I then moved over to IBM and in the first year, dealing with people was not that much different from the time I was working as a doctor. This was probably because I was in a supportive role and not in direct marketing. In my second year in IBM, I moved over to marketing and I was then exposed to the stark reality of people politics.
I then realised that dealing with people is not easy, especially when everyone is fighting for prominence and position. In a marketing organisation, everyone competes with one another, in one form or another. The moment we enter a marketing organisation, we are all competing for the top jobs and we have to position ourselves accordingly.
Some will make it very obvious that they are competing with you. Others will be a lot more sly and try to be friendly but their actions will show their true colours. These are the more difficult ones to handle. Fortunately, there are also those who are truly nice people and will try to help you along the way with no axe to grind.
To be successful in the marketing world, one has to be able to identify the various personalities and execute a plan to manage each and every colleague. For the not so friendly types, it is easy to avoid them or simply to make small talk. The difficult ones are the sly ones who are nice to you on the outside. For these folks, one too has to play their game and be nice to them on the outside but always cautious as to their real intentions.
To be honest, I do not have many personal friends who are from the business world. This is because I am always wary of business people as most of the time, all our interests cannot be totally aligned. We use one another some of the time and this is a fact of business life.
When I formed my own company and recruited people to join me, it was a lot easier to manage people. This is because there is now no need to fight for prominence or position. Everything I do is for the benefit of the company as I do not have to bother any more about office politics.
However, when I started getting investors on board, I then learnt that investors too can have their own agenda and again, one has to understand each and every investor that one takes on board and manage them accordingly. I find that I spend quite a lot of my time managing investors and their expectations. This was why we eventually bought back most of the shares that were sold to the early investors.
Managing people is always difficult because people are generally complex. In business, we try our best not to make enemies but in doing so, we have to walk a tight rope as sometimes, it is difficult to smile and be polite when we know that the other person is trying to take business away from us.
For me, I think it is far easier and less stressful to manage my investments than to manage people. This is why I have since moved from running businesses to managing my own capital.
It is fair to say that it is easiest to deal with colleagues when you are a professional. This is because professionals working in an organisation tend to have the same objectives. As a medical doctor, our foremost consideration is the well being of the patient. We will do whatever in our powers to ensure that the patient gets the most optimal care, usually with little regards to the cost of this care. Nurses and ancillary workers assist doctors and they too have the same clear objectives of giving the best care possible.
Our promotion within a professional organisation is usually independent of our work colleagues. Hence, there is much less enmity and 'competition' among professionals. This is especially true in the government sector where I spent most of my professional life in the UK.
I then moved over to IBM and in the first year, dealing with people was not that much different from the time I was working as a doctor. This was probably because I was in a supportive role and not in direct marketing. In my second year in IBM, I moved over to marketing and I was then exposed to the stark reality of people politics.
I then realised that dealing with people is not easy, especially when everyone is fighting for prominence and position. In a marketing organisation, everyone competes with one another, in one form or another. The moment we enter a marketing organisation, we are all competing for the top jobs and we have to position ourselves accordingly.
Some will make it very obvious that they are competing with you. Others will be a lot more sly and try to be friendly but their actions will show their true colours. These are the more difficult ones to handle. Fortunately, there are also those who are truly nice people and will try to help you along the way with no axe to grind.
To be successful in the marketing world, one has to be able to identify the various personalities and execute a plan to manage each and every colleague. For the not so friendly types, it is easy to avoid them or simply to make small talk. The difficult ones are the sly ones who are nice to you on the outside. For these folks, one too has to play their game and be nice to them on the outside but always cautious as to their real intentions.
To be honest, I do not have many personal friends who are from the business world. This is because I am always wary of business people as most of the time, all our interests cannot be totally aligned. We use one another some of the time and this is a fact of business life.
When I formed my own company and recruited people to join me, it was a lot easier to manage people. This is because there is now no need to fight for prominence or position. Everything I do is for the benefit of the company as I do not have to bother any more about office politics.
However, when I started getting investors on board, I then learnt that investors too can have their own agenda and again, one has to understand each and every investor that one takes on board and manage them accordingly. I find that I spend quite a lot of my time managing investors and their expectations. This was why we eventually bought back most of the shares that were sold to the early investors.
Managing people is always difficult because people are generally complex. In business, we try our best not to make enemies but in doing so, we have to walk a tight rope as sometimes, it is difficult to smile and be polite when we know that the other person is trying to take business away from us.
For me, I think it is far easier and less stressful to manage my investments than to manage people. This is why I have since moved from running businesses to managing my own capital.