Corporate people

I had worked in the corporate for over 17 years. In this 17 years I have met a plethora of characters in various offices. Whenever I changed the organisation I realised that only the names and faces change. Wherever we go we find the same characters. One of such characters is people with loudest voice.

In my first company I had met a person who had a very loud voice. That time I thought that may be this person has a hearing problem. They are screaming at the top of their lungs because they have trouble hearing and cannot understand how loud they are. I genuinely thought that. One day when I was speaking with them they asked me why I speak so softly. I said this is how I speak. I am a soft spoken person. I really raise my voice. Now this loud person told me that if you have to survive in the corporate environment you have to be very loud. Only the loud voices are heard by the management. Only the loud voices get the importance. They also told me that soft spoken person like you would be crushed in the corporate. I did not believe them even for a single second.

In my next organisation I found another person who was loud. I thought this would be just another loud person, only to find out that every person in a particular function was loud. I was able to meet 15 to 20 people from the same function who were equally loud or louder. Attending a meeting with such people was a nightmare. Whenever I would be in a meeting with them I would fear that my eardrums would not be able to tolerate this torture. If two or more people from the loud community would be in the meeting it would be a deafening screaming match. There would be a competition of who is the loudest voice in the room. Attending such meetings was tortuous. Even with these people when they would speak (or scream) they would not speak anything of value. They would either repeat what the previous person had said or speak something that had no meaning at all. The only reason for them to speak in the meeting was to show their presence. Their presence would be equally futile as what thir speech.

In my next organisation I met another loud person. This person was so loud that their voicr was would be heard even out of the soundproof conference room. The traits that this person had were exactly like the other loud people I had met. All the talk was without any value. Just loud voice and nothing else. This person to had told me that if you want to stay in the corporate you need to be loud. If you are are loud then nobody would argue with you and everything you said would get approved (spoiler: this is not true).

In my last organisation I was at a managerial role. I would interact with the senior management. I got insights from the senior management that they absolutely hate loud people. Being loud does not get them anywhere but rather in the eyes of management and the clients and they appear immature and unprofessional.

So my conclusion at the very beginning of my career was right. You do not need to be the loudest voice in the room to be heard. You need to speak what is meaningful and it would be heard. It would not matter if you are a soft spoken person. If your words are valuable then they would be heard irrespective of the volume.

One of the worst kinds that you can find in the corporate world are people pleasers. Let me defined them for you. They are the type of colleagues who would try to impress you by all possible means. They will bring you gifts without any occasion. They will try to find out what you like only to get it for you. They will arrange your chair. They will decorate your desk. They will do anything to make you happy. But here is the catch. You never asked them to do it for you and they do it with malicious intentions.

I met several people pleasers during my corporate career. One particular stands out. Let us call her Neha (pseudonym of course). I met Neha when I had joined my previous organisation. When I joined she was a working with a different team. She was loud and she go to always appear busy (focus on "appear"). We would smile at each other. We would not talk much because there was nothing to be spoken. But her traits were visible: she would arrange the chair and desk for her manager; she would bring chocolates for everyone without any reason; she would bring gifts to the people of high ranks etc. She would do a lot of things so that people would praise her for her kind and generous attitude. Yes, it was all for name, fame, and praise.

Later Neha joined my project. I was supposed to be her trainer. With that the love bombing started. She would come to the office earlier than me. She would arrange my chair. She would bring me chocolates without me even asking. I had to tell her that I do not eat chocolates so that she would stop bringing them. Once she heard me telling somebody that I like dosa, so next day she decided to surprise me with a dosa which she had prepared herself. She had brought me dosa from her home and she emphasized that she had made it because she knew I like it. But she did not stop there. She had taken the pictures of dosa and posted them on social media with a caption "delicious surprise for my beloved friend". I would be not active during the working hours on social media so I did not know when she had posted it. I came to know later that she was eagerly waiting for my reaction on her social media post. She was disappointed when she realised that I had not seen that post. A friend who happened to be Neha's old colleague had told me about the post. She had shown me the post and told me to act as if I had not seen it. I agreed and I did so. She would also shower love on my social media posts. She would show by various ways how she values the friendship.

This attempt to please continue for several years. Neha would try to act nice, kind, and generous. In reality she was neither of it. She was doing it only to make her look good in front of other people. It was just for a show and not for real.

Few years later I moved to a different project. Once I moved out of the project Neha completely disconnected with me. She did not text me or call me, I was absolutely the glad for that because the love bombing was unbearable. But that showed her true colors. I understood that it was never out of a pure emotion. It was a way to manipulate. Thank god I never got manipulated.

If you are a corporate professional or a student looking for a job, be aware (or beware) of such people pleasers. Do not go by the way they act because it is all for the show. Be very careful in the corporate. It is a walk in the park; but the park is Jurassic Park.

In the corporate world the management always says that they look at the performance and not the person. Anybody who has worked in the corporate knows that this is not true at all. The corporates would always have their favourite and they always win all the prizes.

I started working in the corporate when I was 22 years old. In my first company I was really impressed with the induction. When I met my team lead and manager it was a brilliant experience. They had shown me a beautiful picture of the project. They had emphasized that if I put my best work then I would receive not only praise but also exposure to the management. I was naïve and I believed them. Within 1 year working with them I had discovered the truth.

Management does not like someone who ask questions. Management does not want someone who thinks logically. They prefer someone who would always say yes. They need someone who does not use their logic and follow them just like sheep. They want yes men and not someone who is a free thinker. If someone always agrees with the management and stays in their good books then that person becomes the favourite.

In my first organisation it took me time to understand this concept. I do not consider myself to be a rebellious but I do not follow the orders that are illogical or questionable. If I was told something which I found unethical, illogical, or unnecessary I would question that. Once I was told that the client provided laptop should not be taken home and it should be kept only in the office. I asked my manager that the laptop is inteded to be used while working from home so what was the point of keeping it in the office. This question offended my manager and definitely I was not the favourite.

Another trait of the favourite is that they never expressed their own opinion. In fact they have no opinion of their own. They repeat the same words that have been spoken by the management. They would provide the same excuses that are provided by the management. The favourites work as undercover agents of the management who want to portray a good picture of the management and anything that is said against them would get conveyed to the managers. The favourite sometimes are also referred to as snakes.

Now a let's talk about the outcome of being the favourite. The favourite would always receive really good ranking in the appraisals. They would always be top scorers irrespective of how they perform. The favourite would be given all the opportunities. The favourite would receive promotion on time or before the time. The favourite get exposure to the higher management as well as with the client. The favourite name would always be highlighted in big forums. These are some of the few words which the favorites receive.

Now coming back to the moral question. Is it wrong to be a favourite? Absolutely not. I believe it is completely an individual choice. If you are fine with bottling up your opinions for opportunities; if it is acceptable for you to not have self respect then go ahead and follow the suit. But if you want to keep your head held up high with logic and your own opinion I would suggest stand up for yourself rather than being a sheep. The choice is yours.

In corporate there is a specialised group of people who would always be unhappy or upset with some or the other thing. Nothing ever makes them happy. They complain over each and every thing. In my corporate career I used to call this type of people as the complaint box.

I met such people everywhere I went. They would complain that the train was crowded; the seat they got in the bus was uncomfortable; the weather is too hot; the AC is too cool; the office chair is not supportive enough; the food is too bland; that day is too boring. The most common were there is too much of work and we are not paid enough. Though I agree with the work related complaint, their complaints were endless.

Let me elaborate and share an example of such a complaint box whose name was Arya (pseudonym). Arya was with me in one of the organisations. Right from the time she would step in the office she would start complaining. She would complain about every single thing. Nothing would ever make her happy or satisfied. She would often say that our job is too complicated and it does not pay well. Arya was in that organisation for over 10 years. She would say it so many times that it became frustrating. Once I told her that if you are a not happy with the work here you should start searching for opportunities outside. To which she said finding a job outside its too much of work and she did not get so much time for it. This was the main trait of the complaint box people. They would complain a lot about the current situation but they would not take any step to change it.

Another such person that I met in my career was called Chirag (pseudonym). Chirag had traits which were similar to Arya. He would complain a lot. He would complain about work, weather, transport, family, children, friends, you name it and he would complain about that. Chirag too had been a veteran in the organisation. After spending over 15 years in the same organisation he was not a ready to switch to any other organisation. He would prefer to complain than look for better opportunities.

There is a massive disadvantage of being in the company of complaint box people. They are very negative. When they speak they scrib a lot. They talk about nothing but their grievances. Every sentence that they speak is a complaint. Staying with such people would definitely have a very negative impact on our mindset. Because they say negative things so many times and constantly even we start thinking negatively. We start feeling that the world is not good enough for us. Also it becomes very frustrating being in company with them.

I am not a person who gets easily demotivated. When I was working with Chirag or Arya it was very annoying for me to listen to them. Their constant complaining really started affecting me. With each minute that I would spend with them I would feel as if I am dragged deep into the quagmire. The only way I could get away from them was to sit far away from them and avoiding them.

For people working in corporate or the students applying for the job be aware of such characters. Stay away from them.

Corporate people consist of various characters. One of such unique categories include professional victims. This is one of the most common type of corporate people you will come across. At least I did come across a lot of professional victims in my career.

What do professional victims do? They are the self proclaimed poor things. They are the victims everywhere they go. Everyone does them wrong. Nobody ever stands by them. Nobody ever helps them. They have to do every thing on their own. They are the victims in every story.

In their case what is the reality? Does everyone treats them badly? No that is not the case. Someone may treat them badly but most people would treat them fairly. If someone is in trouble or have a lot of work to be completed people would come to help. Professional victims often reject this help saying that they would do it on their own. But later they will cry about how nobody helps them. If someone offers to help, they may take it and would later say that the help was not useful. Because of others' help they had to redo everything which increased their workload. So either way they would never accept that someone helped them and the assistance was useful.

Another classic story is that they have more work than others or their work is always complicated as compared with others. Again this is self proclaimed and their would be no evidence to prove that. I had met someone in my corporate career who would always claim that they are overburdened with work, nobody helps them, they have to do their own work as well as someone else's work. They would constantly cry (metaphorically) and would try to get sympathy.

Another person that I met in my corporate career also was professional victim. This person would claim that they have to do everyone else is work apart from their own. The colleagues leave early, dump the entire work on them, and enjoy their lives. Whereas this person has to sit for extended hours to complete own work as well as others work. They would also say that their work does not get noticed in front of the management.

Then there is another type of professional victims. This people mention that they are going through a nightmare in there personal lives. They would say things like a close relative being terminally ill, a child who is always sick, their spouse not giving them attention, their in laws being troublesome, their siblings not being supported, their parents asking them to manage everything on their own; all family problems at once. And then they would say that because of the family problems they cannot concentrate on their professional lives. In reality their a personal and professional lives would be going on great.

Of the types of professional victims that I met during my corporate career, a trait was a common amongst all of them - they would constantly lie. To support one lie they would tell another lie, so on and so fourth. They would be so wrapped up in their on web of lies that they would not be able to keep up with the lies they had told. If it was proven that they are telling lies then they would create a scene by saying that the whole world is targeting them because they are helpless. This was their defence mechanism so that nobody can speak anything against them.

Who are from the corporate world or wish to join corporate world beware of the professional victims. You may think that you are helping them but in their stories you have already become a villain. Avoid the professional victims at all cost.

[Note: These are not judgements but real experiences from my corporate career, so don't come to grab me by neck to tell that victims exists. There is a massive difeerece between a real victim and one who pretends to be a victim.]

Corporate life is very different. It feel like it is a completely different world. We meet certain people and it makes us wonder that how such people can even exist. One of such kinds is two faced people.

These people when they are with one group they assume the identity of this group. They have the same opinion as that of the group they are with. When they go to the different group they would act as if they are part of that group. They exchange secrets between the groups. They exchange the discussions that happened within the groups. They also try to malign the image of people and groups.

My corporate career I had met a lot of such two faced people. My first encounter with such a person was in my first organisation. Her name was called Nita. She was my senior in the organisation. She would come with us for breaks. She would deliberately talk about our managers. She would try to get our opinion about recent policy or rule that has been made by the manager. Later we would also see that she would go with the managers for the break. Everything that we had said about the managers would be conveyed to them. Everything managers spoke about us during their breaks would be told to us. Nita would be with both groups exchanging information on her own accord. Later all groups got to know about this and nobody wanted to take Nita along with them.

In my another organisation I met another two faced person whose name was Rohit. In that project the team members were divided into two groups. One group would prefer to work and later go home. The other group prefer to work and then go for parties. Needless to say that the equation of both groups was like water and oil. But Rohit would go with both groups. With the first group Rohit word se bad things about the other group. With the second group Rohit would say bad things about the first group. How I knew this? That time I had just joined the project and was waiting for the onboarding. Every group whenever they would go for breaks would call me because both of them wanted me in their respective groups. As a golden rule whenever I join any project I do not provide my opinion and prefer to stay quiet. I did exactly that this is when I saw the contrasting behavior of Rohit. I saw Rohit two faces while he operated within two different groups.

Based on my experience in the corporate I feel that two faced people are dangerous. They do not have loyalty towards any of the groups. They are loyal only to themselves. They mingle with people only to get information for their own benefit. They do not care if someone gets hurt because of their behaviour. Sometimes they want to see others fail. Hence I am very careful with such people.

To all the readers let this be a reminder. In corporate definitely judge people and cut the ties if the person is not good for your growth or success.