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by mikrl 1176 days ago
Same and so it is with most of my favourite people to work with: those who are very technically competent, collaborative and with amazing personalities.

Unfortunately, this is a losing strategy in corporate environments and you will be outcompeted and replaced by relatively average and territorial status seekers.

No I still don’t play the game, yes I wish I could turn off the “ick” and just do it.
2 comments
klabb3 1176 days ago
> most of my favourite people to work with: those who are very technically competent […]

I’m similar but I would say that being curious is the fundamental trait, and competence usually falls out as a side effect. It’s always fun to be around curious people, sometimes especially if they’re not experienced.

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dasil003 1176 days ago
> Unfortunately, this is a losing strategy in corporate environments and you will be outcompeted and replaced by relatively average and territorial status seekers.

This is not universally true. I would agree that overall things trend in this direction over time, but as long as a company is still growing and has the opportunity to win in the market, then collaborative doers can still beat talkers. Of course, politics are still the inevitable consequence of trying to coordinate thousands of people to figure out and execute on the right priorities without any individuals having anything close a full picture. If you're more of a heads-down thinker and builder then it's true you will be at a disadvantage against the social climbers—in the short run. But over time, provided the right feedback channels, the doers reputation tends to increase, while the talkers reputation decreases. Bullshit detection is 90% of the job of upper management in large corporations, it's a tough job and rare skillset, but when done right it results in an environment where good work and honest collaboration is possible and celebrated.

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Aeolun 1176 days ago
> Bullshit detection is 90% of the job of upper management in large corporations, it's a tough job and rare skillset

It’s incredibly hard to detect bullshit if you have no clue what the job entails.

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