More Corporate Power Plays
Nothing screams success like a sequel
Last year, I published a post that’s helped countless readers navigate the Darwinian jungle that’s the corporate world. Since then, I’ve observed and had the time to reflect on more tactics to ascend the corporate ladder.
Start a Substack
In the first post, I touched on the importance of establishing yourself as your company’s preeminent thought leader (henceforth TL). These days, the way to do this is to start a Substack (I’m late to the party - my original post was published on Medium - an anti-power play if ever there was one).
Of course, what will set you apart are the details. To succeed as a Substack TL, you’ll need to…
Come up with a solid title for your page. Good suggestions are using uncommon nouns with multiple definitions, subject matter + animal, or grand-sounding anagrams
Include references to high-brow sources: this will cause your readers to subconsciously associate your Substack with the persons to whom you link. Extra points for preceding references with ‘h/t’, which makes you seem more of a peer to the people whom you reference.
Refer back to your own posts - after all, links are appeals to authority, and you need to make it clear to your readers that no authority is higher than your own.
Bonus points for writing series of posts
You’ll note that the nature of the content you write about doesn’t matter. It’s all about how you write, not what you write - which is in itself a lesson for the corporate world.
Top of mind updates
Speaking of being a TL, another way to establish your bona-fides is to share weekly top-of-mind updates with your colleagues. These have to follow a specific format for maximum impact:
Start with a greeting, and an inquiry as to your colleagues’ well-being. This makes it clear that you’re a caring leader.
Set out your priorities for the week. This shows that you’re a go-getter: you know what you want to achieve, and you’re capable of breaking down long-term plans down to weekly milestones.
Explain what’s worrying you: ideally, you’ll talk about both internal and external factors, which shows you take a holistic view of the world.
Include a personal anecdote or two about what you did over the weekend: this makes you approachable and relatable.
Close with a list of books you read last week, and the inspiration you drew from them. This highlights you’re not an empty suit, but a corporate philosopher-king, who can spot links between, say, Jane Austen’s writing and your latest org restructure.
‘I’m hiring’
Let’s be clear on this: your company isn’t hiring; your team isn’t hiring; you are hiring. You may not have realised this before, but advertising open roles on LinkedIn is one of the best ways to establish yourself as leader supreme:
You get to use the first-person pronoun to let everyone know who’s calling the shots. It’s you. Opening a role, screening candidates, and making offers is your prerogative. HR, your boss, your colleagues, have nothing to do with it.
You can talk about the qualities you are looking for - which, of course, everyone understands are the qualities you possess. Make sure to include visceral adjectives to demonstrate passion: ‘raw’ (e.g. ‘raw energy’, ‘raw talent’), ‘seething’ (‘we’re looking for a seething dissatisfaction with the status quo’), etc.
You can use the job description to share your worldview. You can talk about how the industry in which you compete is broken, and how other companies are stolid, backwards relics; you can talk about how you’re mission-driven, and how your hustle will change the world. You can talk about anything you want. Make it count.
The pratfall effect
If the advice I’ve given so far has one risk associated with it, it’s that it might make you too good a corporate player. You want your colleagues to hold you in awe, you deserve to be on that pedestal, but a pedestal that’s too tall is easy to topple.
This is where the pratfall effect comes in handy: it describes the peculiar dynamic whereby a person who’s widely seen as effective and capable is made more likeable by making the occasional slip.
A clever operator can use this to their advantage: first, establish your unquestionable competence. Second, make a deliberate, highly-visible mistake. Third, enjoy the increase in your relatability and trust reserves.
The trick here is to make the right kind of mistake. Obviously, it can’t be something critical. It can’t be downright stupid. It has to be on the right side of the line between silly and idiotic. Screwing up a model for the latest M&A? Gets you fired. Booking a room at the 2-star For All Seasons when your colleagues are staying at the Four Seasons? Classic move.