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No Bullsh!t Leadership
The Silent Career Killer: Navigating the Dark Side of Office Politics
Season 1, Ep. 314
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Episode #314 // Politics exists in every organization. Some companies tolerate it more than others, and it’s not uncommon for ego-driven leaders to encourage poor behavior from their most ambitious people.
Leaders who tolerate or encourage political maneuvering will find that it has a direct impact on team culture, cohesion, and performance. But politics is so ingrained in human nature that it can be really hard to identify and neutralize.
Politics is the path that many leaders choose when they can’t deliver results… What they lack in ability, they make up for in ambition, so they find another way to climb the ladder… and that’s often by using politics to climb over the top of their unsuspecting peers.
This is just a fact of life, and the rough and tumble of office politics becomes more intense with every layer you move up.
The $64,000 question is, “How do you lead at your peak, and focus on the things that truly matter, without being blindsided by office politics?”
I begin the episode by defining clearly what a political player looks like, so that you can spot them more easily. I discuss how political slurs, no matter how outlandish, can outweigh objective reality. And I finish with some tips for building bullet-proof networks as a primary defense against political attacks.
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