Once upon a time there was a young woman named Denise. She was just out of college, employed, and trying to figure her way around “corporate America”
She zoned in on two men. We shall call them Ronnie (her team lead) and Mike (a manager in the same organization). Very soon she noticed certain patterns.
Ronnie’s pattern was that every time “kudos” and “atta boys” came his way, he would redirect the light from him as a team lead to all the team members on the team that made that happen.
Mike’s pattern? Every time “kudos” and “atta boys/girls” came to any member of his team, he would jump in and redirect the attention to him somehow. Yes, every single time. He never missed an opportunity that I saw.
Question: Who would you rather work for? A black hole or a prism?
Question: What are you?
it’s easy – i’d rather be sharing workspace with prism type of people. and i had that experience.
never seen a complete “black hole”, but been around a fair share of self-promoters. corporate world has tendency to reward and encourage relentless beating of one’s drum. especially in environments where visibility is considered a metric of performance. and they rise. and they play their vanity/musical chair games. to each their own.
since most interviewing processes don’t even consider these qualities (and they can be tricky to identify) – both are unavoidable. so if you meet the first type – count your blessings. as per second – gotta learn to deal with them sooner or later.
🙂 Thanks for your comments.
oh. i’m a “I would like to thank the Academy and so on and on” kinda guy.
if you’re a part of team effort and that effort was successful it’s only natural to be fair and share the recognition. part of professional courtesy if you will.
Oh goodness… my list would be sooooo long of every one I would have to thank.
Sometimes I find myself being a black hole of blame. Something goes wrong and I am eagerly accepting responsibility for the problem. I am working on NOT doing this, though I fully intend to continue accepting blame that I have earned.