Someone is always watching.
Scary title, sounds like a B horror movie but before you reach for your date’s hand let me assure you no one is jumping out from behind a door. But I can’t totally dispel the scary part: Someone is always watching. In fact, everyone is always watching.
Before you go and look out your window to see if it’s true, I’m not saying this in the literal sense but rather in the sense that your position has put you into a position where people’s eyes are always on you. I don’t intend to scare you but simply to raise your attention to it.
As you move up the corporate ladder, there are less at the same tier that you have risen to and it gets less and less as your career progresses. This means that there are more people not at your tier that can easily see you. Your every move as the manager/director/VP/ Leader of an organization is being watched, scrutinized and judged by the people around you.
They notice everything. They notice how much time you spend with one person versus another and how much more time with one department do you spend over another? How many personal phone calls do you make? How many nights after 5 are you there? When do you get in in the morning? People even watch how many bathroom breaks you take in a day.
For better or for worse, your position puts you in the spotlight even if you don’t think so. It is the simple truth that your ascension through the ranks makes you an object of observation. Some people look to you as an inspiration and try to imitate you hoping that through modeling your actions they will also achieve the success you have. Some watch you to see whether or not you are a threat that they need to be aware of and others, unfortunately, watch you just so that they can watch you fall.
Other people’s perceptions of you will always affect how people act towards you. Office politics are a reality and people in your position must accept or else you might find that everything you have worked for might go down the drain. The sooner you accept this fact, the sooner you will be able to guard against those who might want to destroy the reputation you have spent so hard to build.
Cultivate your image the same as you cultivate your contacts, friends, goals and achievements. It isn’t the first goal and focusing on this alone will not raise you to the highest offices of your profession but ignorance of other people’s perception of you can and will deter and prevent you from achieving those offices.
I know you are thinking: “This is superfluous, this is fluff. What matters is my delivery.” It may be true that delivery is important but perception is also a reality. Just ask Othello
Best,
Dan
“Its lonely at the top, but you don’t have to go it alone”
(Othello is a character from a Shakespearean play who was betrayed by one of his officers. Through the scheming of that officer, he was able to manipulate Othello to kill his own wife. You can read a summary of the play here: Summary of Othello