I remember when I was a kid, maybe 4 or 5 years old. Mom had just put me in my bed, read a brief bedtime story, and then turned out the lights. That's when the terror began.
"What's that outside my window?!" It's gotta be a tree blowing in the wind, something totally innocuous and benign. Or perhaps it's an 18-foot-tall alien with gnashing teeth and 16 tentacles waiting to snatch me from my room at any moment.
As silly as that example is, we still create monsters, even as adults. And where do we create them? The same place we always have...in the dark.
Office Politics
The other day, I was in a group of fellow CTO Academy alumni and students when we started discussing how we each deal with "politics." I'm not talking red vs. blue politics here, but rather the little games so many seem to be playing when it comes to the interpersonal relationships with our fellow coworkers. You know, the toxic shit that no one enjoys dealing with, yet so many seem to have a part in.
It struck me right there that the root of so many office politics comes down to fundamental human nature, like so many things.
A company is a collection of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of individual sentient beings, each walking around with their own scars, desires, and objectives. We all bring our unique experiences into the enterprise and, with that, our deepest fears.
The larger the company gets, the less likely everyone knows what's going on. It's simply impossible to keep up with that much noise. Dunbar's Number states that we can really only deeply know about 150 people, so it's just logical that at a company of any size over that, there is going to be a natural tendency for pockets of...you guessed it...darkness.
What do these pockets of darkness look like? They are found anytime you catch yourself saying things that sound like this:
- "I don't know what in the hell they do over there..."
- "I wish they would consult with us before they talk to the customer and promise another piece of impossible vaporware..."
- "Those engineers don't understand how important..."
Each of those statements contains one common thread that may not be obvious...it's fear.
It's Fear
We fear that someone's lack of understanding about my world will cause my ass to be on the line when this campaign doesn't deliver.
We fear that at any moment, in a dark corner of some part of the business, we don't understand, waits a hairy, fang-toothed, snarling monster, waiting to destroy what we've built and become comfortable with.
Politics happen because people are often afraid of the unknown. When people are afraid, they fight to preserve what they can hold on to. The status quo, not the possibilities. Their own interests, not yours.
If you get scared, get curious.
How did you make the monster go away when you were a kid? You got curious. You looked out the window and saw it was just a tree. It wasn't easy, but you got the nerve to get out of bed, go into the corner, and realize your favorite shirt was on that chair, casting its sinister shadow.
It took courage to admit that you were afraid. It took even more to do something about it.
A coach once told me, "If you get scared, get curious."
That's the antidote to any scary creature taking residence in our psyche...curiosity.
And in the same manner, in which we banish that razor-toothed boogeyman in the closet, we too can dispatch much of the toxic politics that seem to drive so many of us crazy.
That's not a monster in the corner; it's Sam from marketing, and they want to do what's best for the company. Be brave, turn on the lights, extend a hand, and get to know the unknown.
I guess the other option is to pull the covers over our heads again and resort to the safety of our little fiefdom. But, I think we all know that won't work long-term. You're gonna have to come outta there at some point.
And in a hypothetical world where monsters do exist, wouldn't it be better to discover them before they're grown up and are now ravenously hungry? Maybe you can make friends and grow up together! After all, I can't think of a better ally in the world than a fully-grown monster that's by your side for everything that life will throw at you.
If you've been reading this far, you know that the scariest things are most assuredly figments of your imagination run amok.
So be daring, be bold, and never let fear stop you from being curious.
