Last week I discussed IT in terms of a pack of dogs. But as I concluded, most of us are not animals so getting ahead in IT is actually a little more complicated than the dynamics of a canine hierarchy. Of course, in some companies, that’s only slightly more complicated.
Last week I discussed IT in terms of a pack of dogs. But as I concluded, most of us are not animals so getting ahead in IT is actually a little more complicated than the dynamics of a canine hierarchy. Of course, in some companies, that’s only slightly more complicated.
How do you get ahead in IT? The traditional answer is that you need to put your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel and “give 110%!” What utter crap.
This “all for the company” line has become the mantra of the high-tech business. “Want to get ahead? Give up your life! Eat, sleep and breathe your job! Your reward will come in the fullness of time! And here, have a fusball table and free food while you wait!” Yum. Nothing like gourmet pizza and free Evian to make up for no life.
Nope, if you’re smart and you want to really get ahead consider the thinking of Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 to 1527),who was, among many other skills, the first modern political philosopher.
Politics is often referred to as the second-oldest profession or “the art of the possible.” Nicky (as his friends, if he had any, probably never called him) realized that human nature means that success in politics is predicated upon the effective manipulation of circumstances.
Now many people think that Mac (which I also doubt that people called him) was a bit of a bastard, but the truth is that he was a realist. For example, he didn’t simply argue as is often supposed that the ends always justify the means – he said that the only ends that were justified were those that resulted in stability. If those ends are achieved, whatever means you use are OK.
So if you want to get ahead in IT, I suggest that whatever power plays you make must result in solutions that support and, ideally, actually further the organization — that’s what stability means in business — continuance and growth. But given that all organizations are intrinsically dynamic, your opportunity lies in being the guy who solves the problems of dynamism so that business can carry on as desired if not as planned.
Here’s where your boss could well be going wrong. In any sizable organization his responsibilities will have grown to the point where he tends to avoid the possible in favor of the known. That’s your opportunity. When he resists anything novel, you establish a case and make it known to all and sundry that you are experimenting before he can shut you down. If you come up trumps (which you will because you planned it that way, didn’t you?), you’ll be The Man.
You, of course, will hand him the glory but you’ll also make absolutely sure that everyone knows when it happens that you were the guy who made it happen.
Does this seem devious? Perhaps you should consider it in terms of working for the greater good. If your boss isn’t going to drive the corporate IT bus and you don’t take action, you are risking the effectiveness and therefore the viability of the organization. You owe it to everyone, including yourself, to take charge. Nicky would be proud of you.
