Comment by osrec | Hacker News Reader

Comment by osrec | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps I have been unlucky in my past jobs, but the single most important thing that allowed me to be successful in my investment banking career was bowing down to my boss's ego, even when he/she was wrong. A few of my colleagues had perfected this "skill", and got promoted super quick. Talent, ability and reliability are all okay, but giving your interviewer/boss the impression that you will never show them up seems to make you super employable! I remember a particular interview, where me and my then boss were looking to hire a new market risk guy. The first guy we interviewed was super talented, and actually quite a nice guy - I thought he deserved the job - he even corrected our misunderstandings on a newish risk model. The second guy we interviewed, not so great. My boss gave it to the second guy; when I asked him why, he fobbed me off with a vague response, but it was clear to me that he felt threatened. Had the first guy acted a bit more average in the interview and pandered to my boss's ego, he would have almost certainly got the job. Personally, I have also had much more success in interviews/jobs by trying to be distinctly average. Eventually I was sick of playing that game so I started my own company and never looked back!

I have come to see this sort of thing as a symptom of the extreme advantage incumbents have in the marketplace. This is why most companies become straight up high palace drama. They can do this because they rule the kingdom and everyone will pay their tax (do business with them) like it or not. If you threaten the king and show you are smarter you are toast and will be killed.

Every established business I have worked with is like this.

Very true - it's really quite annoying and unnecessary. Funnily enough, even when ex-employees from such firms establish a start up, much of this culture comes with them. I know I had elements of it engrained in my psyche, much to my detriment. It took a good 6 months to train myself to not feel threatened by my own employees. I like to think I'm mostly rid of this mentality now and can celebrate/cultivate the strengths of my team!

Quality A professionals work with quality A professionals.

Quality B professionals hire quality C people so that they can feel superior.

Steve Jobs' original quote: "A players hire A players, B players hire C players". I have never seen this fail.

I have been jobless for quite sometime. Did an interview recently for a non-tech position in a non-tech industry. I emerged as one of two top candidates alongside an old friend from a previous employer. I know the gentleman very well, and knew there was no way he could beat me in a fair game. Well, he did get the job. Two months later, I get called by HR asking whether I am still interested in the job. Being still jobless, I accepted the offer. Now, the shocking thing is, I did very well in the written test beating my old friend by a significant margin. Apparently, that didn't still factor in their final decision. And, how do I know about me acing the written test? Everyone who was in the panel has separately told me about it. Now, the only explanation I have for their leaving me out in the first place is that someone might have felt very threatened by my confidence and ambition. While only one panelist rated me highly in the oral interview, the rest rated me lower than my previous colleague but with a small margin.

Funny how the advice to hire people smarter than you, doesn't work out in real life. Meritocracies are rare, and only seem to emerge out of necessity. That applies for tech companies as well.

A Players hire A players. B players hire C players.

Aligns nicely with the learnings from 48 Laws of Power.

For people looking to climb the ladder, I recommend you check out the book.

Could someone provide additional advice or scenarios in which I could stroke The Rulers's ego?

This is literally law 1, "Never Outshine the Master," from "The 48 Laws of Power."

Link:

http://48laws-of-power.blogspot.com/2013/10/law-1-never-outs...

For just about everyone, the best thing to do is shut the fuck up and do your job.

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