They Don't Teach Corporate in College (34 page)

Allen, 33, New York

Manage your time strategically.
Arrange your schedule around your priorities, and learn to say no to nonstrategic tasks in a way that maintains your persona as a can-do employee.

Implement effective organizational tools.
There are only so many things in the professional world you can control, and your own organizational style is one of them. Find a simple routine that works for you, and stick to it.

Be assertive.
Become a powerful communicator and key influencer by standing up for your ideas, while also respecting those of others.

Fine-tune your writing, speaking, and listening skills.
Express your ideas confidently and succinctly. If you look and act as though you know what you're talking about, people will believe that you do. Practice “filter prevention” in order to become an active and involved listener.

The most disgruntled employees in today's companies are usually the twenty-somethings. Why? I think it's because the people running the business world are of a different generation. Parents in the late 20th century were instructed to tell their children they could be anything they wanted, consuming a steady diet of “how to raise a happy, confident, socially skilled, psychologically stable, intellectually stimulated child” books. As a result, today's twenty-somethings feel as though they are the most special people in the universe. Educated on computers and the Internet, you learned rapidly or were left behind, and now that you're in the professional world, you're innovative, entrepreneurial, and devoted to changing business for the better.

Although most managers would like to believe otherwise, the business world doesn't always operate according to these values. In fact, the generation
in power tends to believe that you twenty-something employees would do the world a favor if you settled down, did your jobs, and resigned yourselves to living in the “real world” of organizational bureaucracy. Naturally, this is frustrating, and it's only too common for companies to become a battleground of “us vs. them.” Only, guess what?
They
are in the driver's seat for the time being. When you're running the show, perhaps you'll do things differently, but you'll never get there unless you learn to work with the system and serve with a smile.

Because this can be more challenging than any skill we've discussed so far, I'm devoting an entire chapter to strategies for combating negativity, maintaining a positive attitude, and staying motivated in the face of difficult circumstances. By the time you move on to the next chapter, you will be armed with the most powerful weapon a twenty-something can possess in the business world: the ability to harness the power of your own thinking and create a pleasant situation out of a maddening one.

My department must hold the record for the company's fastest revolving door. In less than a year, we've been re-orged three times. I've had four different managers, and every new person who comes in wants to mark his territory. Meanwhile, none of these people know as much about my area as I do, so their guidance is useless. Plus, I'm changing direction so much I never get anything done. What is it they say—same sh*t, different day? If I have to be “rah rah” at yet another welcome lunch, I think I'm going to explode.

Robert, 27, Oregon

If you're reading this chapter because you're struggling with an attitude problem at work, you're not alone, and your hostility is probably justified. I've spoken to dozens of twenty-somethings, and most have spent their fair share of time banging their heads against the wall and regretting the day they signed their offer letters.

As much as I feel your pain, I don't believe it does much good to complain, because unless you're going to grad school or can successfully start your own business, you're in this world to stay. We all have to deal with business-world insanity whether we love our jobs or not, so we might as well take the
necessary steps to overcome the challenges. However, because this chapter is about your emotional well-being, we need to start by recognizing the things about work that drive us nuts. Most of these points will probably sound familiar, so read on and be comforted. Warning: Do not hang this list in your cube!

1. Déjà vu.
It seems as though it's a requirement in the professional world that you spend huge amounts of time reporting the same information in a dozen different formats, attending status meetings in which conversation from the week before is repeated word for word, and putting out the same fires, because your department doesn't learn from its mistakes.

2. Invoking syndrome.
The invoking syndrome occurs when colleagues try to persuade you to do what they want by name-dropping someone higher up. Whether the executive manager was actually involved or not, invoking him is a manipulative tactic used to get you to bend to your colleagues' wishes (for example, “Really? Well, I spoke to the CEO last night, and he told me we have to do the event this way.”)

3. Egomania.
When certain people reach a high level in a company, they think that they are better than everyone else and that they are entitled to be treated as a god. Regardless of the issue, they believe they are always right and that they can't possibly learn anything from someone lower on the chain.

4. Hierarchies.
In the business world, all men are not created equal, and sometimes you can actually get in trouble just by talking to someone higher up without going through the proper channels. Unless you happen to know the right people, you're invisible.

5. Denigration.
In some companies, it's an unspoken rule that the younger you are, the less respect you receive. Many senior managers are quick to call you on the carpet for situations that may or may not be your fault, but they say nothing when you've done superior work.

6. Bureaucracy.
How many departments does it take to screw in a light-bulb? The professional world has a lengthy approval process for everything, and companies delight in changing those processes constantly so that you're never sure which 10 departments you need to consult before a decision can be made.

7. Hypocrisy.
Don't you just love the way some organizations tout values such as quality, entrepreneurship, innovation, and integrity, when they would be perfectly happy if their employees just kept quiet and never strayed from their designated roles? If you've ever acted on your company's values and gotten burned for it, you are probably a victim of naked ambition (when doing what's best for the company leaves you out in the cold).

8. Micromanagement.
Twenty-somethings thrive on independence, yet some managers will bear down on you with critical eyes at every minuscule stage of a project. Gotta sneeze? Better make sure your manager knows about it.

9. Uncommon sense.
I've read that common sense is dead in the business world. The author almost sounded proud of this. People might make a joke of it, but this dearth of logical thought is kind of sad. It's also frustrating when the obviously correct way to do something is staring everyone right in the face, and no one sees it.

10. Nonsensical change.
Every now and then, companies will decide to throw their departments up in the air and see where all the pieces land. Yes, it's the corporate reorganization (a.k.a. the dreaded re-org). Despite the fact that it results in mass confusion, greatly decreased productivity, and low employee morale, companies continue to do it year after year.

A week before one of our training seminars, our group manager announced that he was changing the curriculum. With one arbitrary decision, weeks of work were flushed down the toilet, and we were left scrambling. When my boss told me the news, I thought I could actually feel my blood boiling. I should have gone outside to get some air, but instead I followed my boss into the group manager's emergency planning meeting. I was so pissed off at the guy for screwing everything up that I couldn't help showing some attitude. The group manager didn't say anything about it—he just kind of frowned. But afterwards, my boss had some words for me. He said that he thought I was more mature than that, and that I needed to
learn some emotional control. So much for all the great work I did on the seminar.

Donovan, 27, Michigan

When one of the professional world's realities frustrates you, you might want to stomp your foot and scream, “It's not fair! It doesn't make any sense! It's wrong!” Incident after incident convinces you that your managers are a bunch of crazy lunatics, and that every time you turn around, someone or something is keeping you from succeeding at work. You quickly develop a bad attitude without considering the consequences.

I fell into this trap at the beginning of my career. I had a clear mental picture of how the business world should operate, and I considered my company's inefficiencies to be a personal tragedy. Every time my progress toward my goals was blocked, my resentment grew (and I'm the type of person who wears my emotions on my sleeve). Pretty soon my managers didn't want to give me bad news, because they were afraid of my reaction. I was probably one of the most capable people in my group at the time, but did I get promoted? No sir. I stayed exactly where I was and watched as coworkers with half my skills moved ahead of me. Eventually I quit, believing my company was the problem. Two jobs later, I realized that the business world is the same everywhere, and that the problem was not my job, but rather my attitude.

Negativity might be a natural reaction to frustration, but that doesn't mean it's the right one. Pessimistic twenty-somethings waste a lot of energy being unhappy. They're unpopular with their colleagues because they suck the life out of everyone around them, and their professional personas suffer because they are perceived as immature. One of my first managers used to say that a bad attitude is like cholera: The person who catches it is vocal in his misery and gives the plague to everyone around him before finally kicking the bucket. Unless you want your career to end prematurely, your strategy must be to kill negativity before it kills you.