Corporate Strategy
Corporate Strategy
92. More Best Tips To Survive in the Corporate World Part 2: EVEN MORE TIPS!
Have you ever walked into work to find HR at your desk, and wondered if it’s time to update your resume? We've been there too. Welcome back to another episode with your hosts, Bruce and Clark, where we dissect the corporate world and offer survival tips for navigating office politics. We start off with the often intimidating arrival of Human Resources in the workplace, and why it might be a cue for you to polish up your CV.
Moving on to the early stages of your career, we share insights on how to embrace challenging work to turbocharge your skills. Instead of seeing learning as a grueling process, we encourage you to view it as an opportunity to better yourself. Remember, a job that tests your abilities while aligning with your values is worth its weight in gold. And when it comes to interpersonal dynamics in the office, understanding motivations and mastering the art of 'agreeing to disagree' are key tools for success.
Rounding off our discussion, we delve into personal expression and social media usage in the corporate sphere. We can't stress enough - if a post could raise eyebrows, it's probably best kept private. It's about maintaining professionalism while being authentic. We'll also explore how to balance power structures in a way that fosters respect for all. So tune in as we navigate the choppy waters of the corporate world together, reminding you at every step that being true to yourself is the ultimate power move.
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Welcome back to Corporate Strategy, the podcast. That could have been an email. I'm Bruce, yeah, I'm Clark, and Craig's recording us. What's up with that?
Speaker 2:This dude is terrifying. The first time we brought him in I was like, did we just get hacked or do we have like a guest? It felt like I just got called in with my boss and they like brought HR into the conversation. I was like I'm going on a performance improvement plan, A pip, it's happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, after the performance review episode I told Clark I was like look, you're just not pulling your weight. Man, we got to bring in Craig to record everything you say and do, and so we do. So we actually record this. You might see us. I don't know if you can or not. It's a private channel, but we record in the Discord and this little bot named Craig, who you've probably seen don't feed him. He listens to everything we say, creates a nice little audacity project for us when we're all done.
Speaker 2:It's terrifying. You jump in with like this loud, booming voice and you're like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:He's like now, recording your life, prepare to die.
Speaker 2:Oh man. But yeah, actually this is a good corporate tip for people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you join a conversation and then HR shows up out of nowhere, probably not a good sign. You might be getting a weight off or on a pit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the time when you're just like, okay, I'm going to multitask and work on the resume at the same time. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Might as well knock that out, because I know it's a pro tip.
Speaker 1:Another pro tip. Some of you might have noticed there was an ad in an episode you listen to. I think it just adds it to everything everywhere. I don't know how it determines this. I'm going to try and be better about that and put in a little break. I do want to announce so we have ads and we're only going to have ads on this podcast until we have enough income to support the cost of the pod. Right now it costs us $30 a month to put this podcast out for you all to hear. It comes right out of my bank account and goes into the ether.
Speaker 2:So I don't contribute at all, not at all, out of you.
Speaker 1:Clark is keeping in line with his normal behavior by not helping. So I pay for the pod $30 a month. It's not cheap, but it's a hobby. We love it. We're going to put ads on the pod until we have another kind of income to supplement that. Speaking of which, if you are interested in supporting us and helping eliminate ads for you and all of your fellow listeners, we do have a subscription that is available now. I don't think it's on the website yet, is it Clark?
Speaker 2:No, but it can be, sure, it can be.
Speaker 1:It just recently made some updates, so I think, yes, yes, If you would like to subscribe, you can go to our Buzzsprout page. I'll put a link in the podcast notes so you'll be able to see that. I think the minimum it offers is $3 a month. I wish it was one. I feel like asking for $3 is a lot. Yeah, I agree I'd cast, but it's a month. What can you do? When we hit that $30 mark, ads go off. You'll never hear another ad again unless the monthly cost again goes below that $3 mark. Right now, all you're doing is a good deed. In the future, who knows what a subscription can unlock? We're still figuring all of this out. I can barely Instagram. Go, Clark.
Speaker 2:We have business in our name and we're an awful business. Our operating costs are more than our actual income, so we're losing money every day For two years. We're having fun yeah, we're losing money every day, but we're having fun doing it and we need to get this boat back on track. So, as much as we're against ads, I think it's a good thing to do in the short term and then I think to your point, if you guys do decide to be part of this, there definitely will be more additional things on top of that, and I think we'd like to talk to you guys about what type of perks you'd like to have. We've talked about maybe it's just a monthly call where we get on together, or maybe we do like a monthly gaming session where Bruce kind of shows me how to game and I do it over stream terribly. That could be really entertaining. So I think we've had a lot of ideas on how we could provide a little more content and hey if you're one of the first to subscribe.
Speaker 2:We would be happy to explore those ideas with you.
Speaker 1:Yes, so that's it for that. Until then, I'm sorry about the ads. I get to listen to them all before they go live. So if it's any consolation for you, I get to suffer with you.
Speaker 2:You know, the best part about that is that I have nothing to do with this. So if you hate the ads or they're terrible, just know, bruce knows what they are, I don't.
Speaker 1:Yes, I do know what they are. They're not great, but they're all for like podcasts that make your life better, so maybe they're good. I don't know, I don't listen to them, I can't endorse them. That'd be nice too. I don't know if anyone just wants to like, find us a sponsor, like a mattress or something, I'll take a free mattress and you know gush about it.
Speaker 2:I can do that. I'll record from the mattress. I'll do whatever it takes.
Speaker 1:This podcast coming to you live from your purple mattress. I do it.
Speaker 2:I put your wearing birds while you're laying on this mattress. This podcast is going to take a weird twist.
Speaker 1:It is it while speaking of how you survive in a corporate business, nightmare transitions. How about that one? How about that one? This is part two. Hopefully it's only part two and this doesn't become a trilogy. But who?
Speaker 2:knows I will At the rate we're going right now. And by the way, do you just make me talk until you find a word that you can transition into the subject?
Speaker 1:Yes, I feel used.
Speaker 2:I feel dirty.
Speaker 1:Yes, speaking of dirty, I'm going to call Clark. You actually found something. It's really funny. Why don't you share your little observation with the audience?
Speaker 2:Well, one I'd like to say. I've been. I've been hacked. I get into this recording and my name has changed and no longer Clark cheddar movements. I am fresher, clark, even though I'm not a fresher, but I identify as one and you can't stop me. It says on the first sentence of Squid Boy's article that we're running down how to survive in the corporate world. It's the second word. A fresher in a corporate world is more like Alice in Wonderland. That should have just set us off from the beginning. One fresher, because it's hilarious, but two, that this was written by a boomer.
Speaker 1:Yes, well, read the second line. Read the second line.
Speaker 2:Oh man, it gets worse what about the fresher. You do not know what to do, how to proceed, how to behave and stay in confuse in a crowded room with people running here and there doing their jobs.
Speaker 1:I like how the subtle jab here of you're new you're not actually working, but everyone else is in there running around like their hairs on fire because you are new and you don't know how to behave it's great.
Speaker 2:It's so funny, though it's like the longer and this is why this makes no sense and I think people hit this perpetual wall the longer they are in corporate You'll realize all you freshers out there the longer you're in corporate world, the more that the people around you don't really know what they're doing. Everyone's kind of flying by the seat of their pants. A lot of people, just frankly, are pretty stupid. So it's really it's funny to read this, because it's like this person has painted this picture of how it is, when in reality, they're probably one of those people who has no idea what they're doing and they're flying by the seat of their pants.
Speaker 1:Exactly, yeah. Speaking of seat of our pants, in the last episode we only made it to number seven out of 30.
Speaker 2:What do we got? Yeah, 22 more 22 more.
Speaker 1:Are you ready for number eight?
Speaker 2:How many?
Speaker 1:I'm ready. Don't overspend. It's easy to be over the moon when you get your first paycheck. The amount you can make, or the amount can make you swoon and tempt you to spend recklessly. Create a personal budget and try to stick to it. Spend on things that you really need and, even if you go shopping, be a wise shopper. Learn to save and respect money. This lesson will go a long way in your life too.
Speaker 2:I don't even know where to start.
Speaker 1:Park to budget.
Speaker 2:This isn't a corporate tip, no, it's like a life tip.
Speaker 1:It's a life tip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it kind of breaks the whole entire thing of surviving the corporate workplace. It has nothing to do with it. You can completely be failing in your work, in your personal life, but crushing in your work life.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Separate the two, for sure, but generally, yeah, it's a good point, like, if you're bad at managing your money, get better at it, because that's obviously the reason you work is to get that money to live your life. It's a means to an end, so it is important that you save money and invest properly. Do you budget? Yes, yes, my wife and I, we both budget. We have a shared understanding of our budget, but we're frugal anyways. That's a nice thing, so we really don't spend a lot of money Budgeting gives me anxiety, does it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can't do it. I just don't spend what I don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're kind of the same, like we budget, but yet again we just don't spend, so it all kind of flies under our budget anyway.
Speaker 1:I have a good understanding of what my monthly expenses are. They have a good understanding of how much it costs to live. And then I know what I make on top of that and I try to make sure that I put some into whatever 401k and whatever options are available to me and invest. But for the most part I don't like thinking about it and I kind of just try to do what I like to do and enjoy it. And I know that that's a very privileged thing to say and I know that I'm going to a job that allows me to do that.
Speaker 1:But even when I was not making good money I mean when we started, I think, yeah, I was making $40,000 writing code all day long. Yeah, yeah, 40k writing code. Can you believe it? And I still did that. Like nothing has changed in my spending habits, except I eat more expensive food than I used to. So don't like budgeting. It just really wigs me out. Just, I understand what things cost and try to be respectful of what I make, and I don't know if that helps the people or not.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I think that's that's the key. You know, live under your means. And then, if you get a new job that pays more, do the financially responsible thing behind behind that. Like obviously the more you save, the more you can invest and you don't want to sit on a large, large sum of money, so just do the things that get you additional money, like max out essentially your 401k, dump all your money into that until you hit those limits. If you can't afford to, because that's just going to snowball and compound over the years and the longer you have it in there, the more money you're going to make and do things like open a you know a Roth IRA every year. Like do the things that make sense to you financially but don't overspend and don't not invest, because those two things will bite you in terms of long term vesting interest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the one thing I could say is it might seem counterintuitive, but spend the money to get a good financial advisor, even if you're not making good money. Spend the money because they will be able to help you make decisions that are appropriate to your level of earning and make sure that you're set long term. I truly fear for the long term economic stability of our generation and younger. So take that time, spend that money. It's worth it. Like running your own podcast. Take a point.
Speaker 2:Have we done an episode on how to be financially smart? Yes, in the corporate world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we brought on Tony and Alex to talk about it. I would say Tony and Alex, I think helped us with a lot of that.
Speaker 2:Yes, I wonder if we should do like a basics one, just like super basic corporate taking advantage of like finances with your corporate job. Like things like your employee stock purchase plan, your 401k contribution from your company, Like there's just free money sitting out there and we should probably have just like a really quick podcast about day one on the job. What should you make sure you're doing to be financially set up?
Speaker 1:Yes, the episode was called retire early or live comfortably. Let's talk finances. We actually that's one of our most listened to episodes, so if you've not listened to that before, we had two amazing guests Alex, our discord moderator and constant guest, and Tony, who happens to be my boss IRL. But it's a good episode and learned a lot about finances on it.
Speaker 2:All right, you ready for the next one? Yeah, hit me. Oh, you're going to love it. Keep looking for challenges. No, your first job should be full of challenges and if not, it's not worth pursuing. If you find your regular job responsibilities to be mundane, approach your boss and request for more challenging work. The more demanding work you take up in your first job, the better success awaits you later.
Speaker 1:Man, this is going to be a slog by the end of this. By the end of this, I'm going to want a new job because of how fundamentally certain term I want to say about the author Exactly.
Speaker 2:I mean generally. I mean challenge is part of our CAC, so if you're a listener, you know culture, autonomy, challenge, compensation. It's a way to look at your total work life and see how satisfied you are in your current job and where you are now. But challenge is a super important one, especially for me. As we talk back in our CAC episodes, challenge is one of those things that I do feel like is super critical for me. Anyways, I don't like being bored. I like to take on new challenges and new things and I like to keep on learning, and so challenge is important to me, but I don't think challenge is. And then this is why I think this one I disagree in the way that it's worded is it's not just about taking on more work or more demanding work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or more demanding work. It's about taking on a work that advances your skill sets to your goals, and if it's not doing that, then it doesn't really matter. Like I talked with Alex, and he scolded me nicely about working too much, because I end up taking on all these things that I could do in my sleep, but it just takes hours and hours and hours to do it, and so I have to find ways to get rid of that stuff and focus on more challenging work so I continue to grow. So I think this one is all about don't just keep on taking more work, but if we could spin this in a better way. It's about find those things that gain you the skills you need for your goals.
Speaker 1:Well, learning doesn't have to be challenging either, and I think that's a big misconception. Just because you're doing something new doesn't mean it's difficult. It just means you've never done it before and there's going to be a level of discomfort. Or maybe there's a natural, you know, intuitiveness to it and you find that this isn't challenging at all. This is really fun to go do this new thing. It's more important that the things you take on voluntarily benefit you or benefit your career growth. Then, yeah, I took on the hardest task, which is learning cobalt, because we had one dude that knows it and now we have two. I mean, maybe that's going to help you get some really good jobs, because knowing that language is a forgotten science. But you have to take on things that mean something to you. And just the word challenge we use it in CAC as a way to gauge whether or not you feel over or under pressured to achieve what you're doing. But that doesn't mean challenge necessarily is going to lead to growth or, you know, personal success or knowledge or anything like that.
Speaker 2:If you're doing the hardest things but the wrong things right, then you're not going to get where you want to go. So you got to understand how is this thing going to help me reach my goal? And then you got to make sure you're putting your effort on those challenges and to your point. I think, like I enjoy challenge, I enjoy competition and I like learning things that I don't know how to do, but I want to make sure it's going to be beneficial to me, it's not going to be useless challenging things that are just frustrating to your point.
Speaker 1:For me there's nothing more challenging than working with stupid people Like that is the highest level of challenge.
Speaker 2:I have you know. Wow, yeah, Podcast.
Speaker 1:But feedback time Clark. Now Clark is, if y'all haven't figured it out, clark is like eight times smarter than everyone else. I don't know why eight, but that was just what the the doctor said when he was birthed. So so he is. But yeah, I just find the challenge of people to be the greatest and most frustrating.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, and there's. There is a healthy level of you do need to learn how to work with people Like that is a challenge and that is, you know, understanding how do I find out this person's motivation? See it from their point of view, like all those are great things to learn. That can be really challenging. But then you also hit a point where some people, just because it's human nature, you can't change their mind about something and it's not worth trying to continue it. Like at some point you have to move on. So, and you can't let it get to you personally either it's like okay, whatever, like you know that we see things differently and we agree to disagree. I'm not going to harp on it or, you know, let it bother me for too long.
Speaker 1:So anyway, should we?
Speaker 2:move on to 10?.
Speaker 1:Yeah, clark number 10. Never let go of your values or morals. A job is important, all right, but if it's going to mean that you have to compromise on your ideals and values, then it's best not to continue. You'll never be happy in a place where you're daily questioning the methods and policies. Remember, each day of your first job is important, and hence it is better to find a place where you fit in. Remember, windows is a religion, as is Linux or Mac. Choose carefully.
Speaker 2:I didn't read it and I think that's a lie. You made that up right. I was like this doesn't fit the author at all, like this is so random.
Speaker 1:That was a callback to a previous episode where someone apparently was able to get by not using Windows in their job but because it was against their religion.
Speaker 2:That was a good callback.
Speaker 1:How do you feel about this, Clark?
Speaker 2:I mean, in some regard I agree with this. I mean you should have your own set of values and morals and since that goes so deep within your character and who you are as a person, right, doing something that contradicts it is not a good thing, it's not healthy for you and it's generally. Generally, I think this would just be a bad sign of a company right.
Speaker 2:If you're constantly going against those things. But also there is a sense of it depends how you look at work philosophically. We always talk about our friends who kind of look at how do I get the most dollar amounts from my job and I don't care about anything else, I don't care how much of scumbags they are, I don't care what they ask me to do extra, I'm just going to do my job, I'm going to do it really well, I'm going to earn as much money and I'm going to get out of there as fast as possible. So in some regard it's like well, are you really making it worse because you're contributing to this company, or are you just looking out for numero uno? You Right?
Speaker 1:I actually like this one, but I don't think I agree with the author's intent, ignoring that I interviewed to work at a weapons contractor right when I was trying to find my first job, and one of the things that just sort of clawed at the back of my mind is the software that I'd be working on would be used to powered satellites that spy on people, to which they will be bombed eventually. And I did not like that. I did not. You know, I got past the first couple of interviews. I was like I don't want to work here, I can't do this, I would not be able to live with myself.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that that's bad or you're a bad person for doing it, but that's my moral, that's my ethic, right? So I did not do that, I did not continue that search in that path, and I think there's a lot of different positions and places where people could think, yeah, I don't want to work here, this is not, this is not who I am, this is not gel with me. I think you should figure that out in the interview process, not when you're there. If something in your job actively defies your morals or your values and it wasn't apparent in the interview that's HR territory, right, and maybe it's a conversation needed to have an HR and find out. Is this part of the policy of the company or are you just very unique in your belief system and maybe you do need to go? But that's my take on that.
Speaker 2:No, I agree. I mean, I think you said it perfectly. Yeah, you should absolutely not do something if it's going to cause you angst or be against your core values and in some sense maybe there's an opportunity to influence change. But at a bigger company who's making tons of money, yeah, you're not going to be able to push that needle. So Bruce made the right decision in that case.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I still feel good about that too. So it's all good, that's the important thing yeah. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2:So I think you're born ready. This is not your last stop.
Speaker 1:Plan exit baby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, plan exit. This one probably don't even talk about it. No matter how much you love the job, it's good to remember that it's in a place where you expected to remain until you retire, and that's a really good point. I don't disagree. And basically they're talking. It goes in all these details that you've already talked about already, so I won't read the whole thing, but it basically says you know, if your company's closed down like at the end of the day it's a business and depending what business it's, in, what industry it's in technology is changing all the time it could go out of business. So you need to remember you will be parting with this, unless you're like the CEO or the founder. So even they will exit but they'll just exit millionaires.
Speaker 1:Exactly They'll exit with a lot of money.
Speaker 2:But unless you're part of that founding team, you could at any point be disconnected from the company or a good shutdown or whatever. So just keep that in mind. And also, in terms of this is not your last stop. It shouldn't be. I mean, we've talked about this before is it's actually good for you to diversify? Not only is it good for you financially, but it's good for you career wise, it's good for you skill set wise.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of reasons that you should not stay at one place for your whole life, but there also is pro sustaining a place for your whole life. If it's something you truly believe in, you want to invest your whole life to, then sure you know all yours. Or if you're just treated really well and you're like, hey, I'm here to live on this earth, I'm not here to work on this earth, and they treat me well, they pay me well and happy, then great, that's awesome. But generally, you know, I think we always advise you should hop around a little bit every, you know, four or five or so years, even sooner, for some roles.
Speaker 1:I like the last sentence in this one, which is do well at your job. At the same time, once you're ready, do explore options outside. And that's great advice, and this is the first one that I just I think could actually aligns with what we think one to one. So good job, author. It'll only take 11 points to get there.
Speaker 2:Not bad.
Speaker 1:Boomer. Oh, you went there, he did it. He said the thing. Number 12, keep learning. Learning is growing. Just because you finished your formal education does not mean your learning also stops. If you want to ensure that you climb the ladder in your career in the corporate world, then update your skills and knowledge by taking new courses, attending seminars and workshops and also taking up new responsibilities at your office.
Speaker 2:I like it, I do, I do. It feels like challenge a little bit, Like it's kind of redundant, but I don't disagree. You should keep learning. And if you feel like you're the smartest person in the room, while that can be good for a while you know you're you're likely not learning anything new because you're the only one pushing the needle. So challenge yourself, Be like hey, how do I get better at this? How do I continue to learn? How do I explore different ways that I can get more involved? Or, you know, keep advancing myself. I think that's always a good way to look at it.
Speaker 1:You don't want to. You don't want to stagnate. Don't even look past some of the free resources that are available out there. It says courses, seminars, workshops. Those are all things you usually have to pay for. There's tons and tons of free material and YouTube videos and passionate people like Clark and I who are willing to share knowledge for nothing other than the joy of sharing knowledge. So look everywhere, learn as much as you can and find things that spark joy. To quote Marie Kondo, if you're learning and it's sparking joy, you're doing the right thing.
Speaker 2:Pick up your coworkers and hold them in your arms and say does this bring me joy? And if it doesn't give them? A swirl in the toilet, throw it away.
Speaker 1:There they go.
Speaker 2:I'll see you later. You know I'm reading this next one as I'm preparing to read it to you Already. I think we're taking the turning point in this article where it's just starting to get redundant and I'll read you this one. You tell me what you think, but I do this all the time with like anytime I read these 30 best tip things, or 20 best tips or 10 things, like to make you progress. It's like at some point you hit that, hit that tipping point where it's like oh okay, we're just saying the same things and we're saying it differently. So you tell me if you feel that way after this one Maintain professionalism.
Speaker 2:The corporate world is a formal place where work counts more than anything else. Hence, maintaining a professional attitude will help you cope. I hate that statement. Oh, my goodness, you have to learn to cope, because it's just going to be awful and atrocious. Learning to behave professionally can't be learned in a day or two, but it can be learned in a day or two, but it is a gradual process. Sometimes the way the words, this is weird. It is weird.
Speaker 2:Neoprofessional at all levels and each man. It is one of the best ways to make the transition from college into a corporate world easy and smooth, like that's anything new to you.
Speaker 1:No, and I feel like this automatically folds everyone into the box of old gen professionalism, right? This ignores the fact that new people from newer cultures, the younger generations that have built their own new way of communicating, that use different styles and methods of communication. Like short form video does not fit within the professional standard, which is how companies become legacy. I would actually say professionalism is defined by the culture of the company. You're in, agreed, and if you disagree with it, obviously you can try and push it in a direction that you think is better, but if people aren't willing to go with you, then you're not in the right spot. So, more so than maintain professionalism, be aware of your culture. Find if you like it. Find if you don't see if you can start a movement. Otherwise, go somewhere else. That easy, it is that easy. Let's skip ahead because there's you're right. This is starting to get repetitive. Sixteen, you can find the next and you want to talk? I agree.
Speaker 2:I read the next two and I'm like I developed a good network. Maintain a happy attitude towards life.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, we're done All right, I'll be happy, I guess, sixteen. Do not be submissive. Flattery is not always the best policy. Understand that being a sycophant can't take you everywhere, so avoid it. There will be managers who love those who flatter them, and they may be even partial towards those who behave so, but you need not be one of them. Show respect, but maintain a distance.
Speaker 2:What the heck? What is this? No, we've been trying to say Like is this just like the HR thing of like you know, if someone mistreats you, you should report it and don't like bow to them. I don't even understand. Listen, like yeah flattery is.
Speaker 1:It is a tactic. I think you see it a lot more in selling type roles, where you want to make your customer feel good. You want to make them feel heard and listened to, and you can use all kinds of different psychological tactics in addition to flattery to make them feel good. If you're flattering your boss so you can get a promotion, I would assume that most people are going to see through you. So sure it's not. You can't be like oh hey, dave, love that belt Really fits your body, like you know. Obviously that's not a good path, but you know it goes to the next one.
Speaker 2:Respect Brown boundaries, please do not comment on my body in the workplace but just the way that's what is stated. I mean I agree, I agree with something that is different than what this is saying. But it makes me think of it Like it's okay to disagree, but you have to do it respectfully, like I've been in situations with people and like going back to your point about working with people is the hardest part about working these types of jobs, especially if you manage or if you have to be a decision maker. So I think that's a good thing, it's okay to disagree and you can disagree and still make progress together and still land in a really good spot. But I also have been in those situations where someone disagrees with me. It's not respectful and they're like chewing me out over something and I'm not just going to sit there and take it, I'm going to get back to them and I'm like, hey, listen, I don't appreciate the way you're talking to me about this and this is my opinion on it. If you feel differently and you can't respond to it, then you have to do it and I'm not going to say, hey, listen, I don't want to be a decision maker, I don't want to make any opinion on it. If you feel differently and you can't respectfully talk to me about it, then we need to go to our managers and see if they can help us work through this. But you can't be approaching it the way you are and I've been in some really awkward situations like that where someone has come at me and it's not right and you do have to escalate it in some sense, but you have to keep like a level head. But I don't think you should just like step back and let them do whatever they want, because they act like that, like you shouldn't tolerate that for the sake of everyone around you.
Speaker 2:And funny story about mine just to kind of close that loop, that person ended up leaving like two months later. So they were a toxic person in our culture and we really got into it and I basically said let's escalate it. And then they backed down because I had no problem. I was like let's go talk to them, I'll go talk to managers and tell them I saw you, you can tell them, you yours, and they basically never did that and then they just left the company. So I think it will like, if you let this stuff happen, your workplace culture will get worse and worse, and if you're submissive to it, it's not going to be a fair for everyone else. Now, that being said, don't put yourself in a bad spot If this person seems to be aggressive. If you don't feel comfortable, don't engage. That's the safest way to do it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I agree 100% on what you said and I would also just add be yourself. Don't try and turn into some other version of who you wish you were. Or I like to pretend I'm Captain America when I'm at work so I can fit in with the other Avengers, like, just be who you are. And if who you are is not good enough, then again it's a cultural problem. Maybe there is some behavioral issues that you could work on or you could go and do a social skills course or something. But for the most part, be yourself and don't try and flatter or lie or BS or pretend to be something else.
Speaker 2:Right, don't be a brown-noser. No, don't do it. I agree. No, talking about kind of that topic, and I know we need to keep skipping ahead here but would you agree that it's easier in the workplace and it tends to be better if you take emotion and personal connection out of it? Yes, I think that's like the key is.
Speaker 2:I think it's human tendency to, you know, feel really passionate about something, work really hard on something and you're invested in it.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day you have to remember it's a business. It's about dollars and cents and if you're not pushing that forward or if you're letting your personal feeling about it or connection to something continue on, like, let's say, you're working on a project that's just exhaustively losing money, like you have to disconnect that I spent three years of my life on and you have to say you're right, this is not good for business. We're losing money, we're not hitting that turning point. We need to move to something else. And don't let it dishearten you because at the end of the day, it's about the business. So don't feel like you're just. I think I did this when I was a young programmer because I would get so into something, because I would spend so much time on it and then when the projects got killed, I was like, well, that sucks, like it really disheartens you. But at the end of the day it's not personal, it's a business, and if it's not making money or pushing things in the right direction, you got to learn to move on.
Speaker 1:Completely agree.
Speaker 2:Well, I just got passionate about this Boom.
Speaker 1:You're on point, brother, keep preaching.
Speaker 2:Oh, I don't even know where to skip to Respect boundaries. We talked about that one. Maintaining deadlines kind of just goes back to being punctual. I think we hit that one on the head because you know you should always be prepared and ready and get your work done on time. That one seems pretty obvious. But I'll skip to the next one because I think you'll have some good response to this Learn everything about your company. I like this one. One of the survival tips for the corporate world is to be well versed with the place you are working. Learn about its way of functioning, its annual reports and policies. The more you learn about your company, the more you will feel connected with it.
Speaker 1:I disagree with the intent, but I completely agree with the idea, and here's why I didn't know, clark, what our company actually did for like five years.
Speaker 2:You're going exactly where I was hoping you'd go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when we were in engineering, we were so focused on our little slice of what we were coding I never actually knew what the business value of what we were building was. It was only when I went to sales that I realized oh wow, this whole thing is functional because of how the company works and who the company's customers are and how they give us feedback on what to build. And with Illuminating, it also helped me better sell the company. Right, there is a problem, I think, when you first join any business that it's very overwhelming. You're learning your job. You're learning what your responsibilities are. You're learning your little slice that you're probably going to ignore the wider dearth of what your company does.
Speaker 1:I could not advocate more that you take the time, actually sit down and learn about it, because it will help you do your job and it will help you be better at your job. When you understand the company's values, their goals, their mission, that bleeds into your work and it just automatically elevates it. And maybe you don't feel good about it, but your management will still be like oh, clark's a company boy, he just bleeds our values into his work and fresher Clark really achieving his goals. And it's all because Clark knows what the company is and how the business works and succeeds.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you went exactly where I was hoping you'd go. I agree completely. You get so caught up and the company kind of does the orientation and you like learn about mission values, hopefully your town halls and stuff like that. You know they keep on preaching them over and over because you know that's how you guide the ship. But the annual reports is something to your point, like I never looked at, like I never understood. Is the thing I'm working on important?
Speaker 2:And at the end of the day, you know your company usually speaks in dollars and you can take a look, if you're a public company, at your annual reports and you can say, oh, this is how we talk to our shareholders about our money and where we're growing as a company and where we're investing, and that makes it a lot easier to understand why decisions are made. And I think that's the important thing, right Is there's a level of maturity in the corporate world that the more and more you realize that it's like man when you see frustrating decisions, when you see things getting prioritized or deep prioritized and you don't get it and you feel really passionate about it. It's because you don't understand how your company functions as a business, like dollars and cents and the more I've kind of rise the ranks into kind of the executive, if you will ranks it's executive Clark.
Speaker 2:I know right? Well, I guess both of them. I mean, that's what we consider an executive of my company now. But anyways, as you get to that level, it's like it's more important that I understand how our company allocates money and what our annual plan is and where we're investing things in our portfolio, Because then all those decisions are really easy to make and I don't feel personally connected with things I've been working on for years and like, yeah, this is where the dollars need to go, because that's where our market is going, and so I think the closer I got to those things, the easier it was to work, because I was aligned to the decision making, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:It does, it does, and I completely agree. Somehow knowing about the goals of the company can actually remove the frustrations when decisions come down, because you see the bigger picture and it's not like, hey, you're not working on this anymore. Leadership said so Instead, hey, you're not working on this anymore. But, as you know, the company's changed direction because we're chasing a new vector that we're trying to capture a market for. So all hands on deck go synergize. It's disgusting, but at least it takes the sting out of it, because everyone's on the boat with you and they're all trying to go the same direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. And also opportunity wise for you freshers out there, like in my name right now. That's, you want to go where the money is yeah, right, and so I think the more you understand how your company is investing money, the more you will find opportunity if you follow it to be like, hey, I really want to get on this project and that's where the promotions are going to happen, that's where the company's going to take things. So if you can get onto the things that are important to the company and to your customers, you're going to just find more opportunity from it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got one last one I want to hit here. All right, hit me. Number 28. Use your social media profiles more responsibly. Now that you're taking baby steps in the corporate world, it's important that your social media profiles reflect your new position. Don't post pictures of your parties and vulgar photos on your page. If you have a LinkedIn profile, update it. Post your new position and the company name. This is coming from someone whose LinkedIn position says corporate strategist.
Speaker 2:A well respected person in your field. Yes, really good at what you do.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Corporate strategist.
Speaker 1:No one's commented on it. I'm waiting. They're like what's the heck is this? I'll be like the podcast should have been an email. I just agree. Obviously, if you are part of I'm just going to point blank this if you're part of the hate group or a group of people that is notorious, just unloved, yeah, Don't post that. In fact, change your life, Be better. So that's not a social network problem, that is a you problem. But if you're at a party, if you enjoy life, if you like posting about yourself, that is very much a generational thing. The older generations are not as post friendly as the younger generations are, and I'm learning this as I'm learning Instagram. I feel old using Instagram. I said this in the last podcast. I'm saying it again I don't connect the way. I think that I thought I would.
Speaker 2:I love how our Discord members are just scolding you and like what are you doing with this Instagram thing? They're just guiding you on don't do this, do this instead, and it's hilarious to me, my prime was the golden age of Reddit and Reddit's dead now.
Speaker 1:I mean, I still use it because what else is there? But geez, I am out of touch and that's fine. I have no problem with that. And don't stop being yourself and doing the things you like, unless, of course, it is hateful and vile and disgusting. In which case change you. Don't change your social network. Change you. But yeah, that's stupid. And if a company is looking to look through your social network to find dirt against you oh you went to a party, oh you drank alcohol, you're a risk, like you're at a bad company, that's that reflects more on them than it does you. And be yourself, don't, don't worry, like right. This is the good indicator of what kind of company you work for. If they're you know 1984 in you, that's a serious problem, like that reference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think to your point it's. It is tricky because you know when social media was coming out, you know that's how you know corporations and hiring committees got to know more about the candidate. But I think to Bruce's point. What you're saying is your work life and your personal life. You don't have to mix them.
Speaker 2:And you could be an absolute psycho furry, whatever you want to call it like in your personal life and you could be a rock star in the work world and there's no reason why you can't just be you like, do the things you like doing, as long as it's not hurting or, you know, being disrespectful to others. So I think absolutely. I mean a general rule of thumb too is just keep your stuff on private if you think it's crossing boundaries, so that way you only let people see things that you approve of seeing them if that makes sense. But generally, as long as you're respectful, you're thoughtful about like, okay, this isn't going to offend anybody or you know it isn't going to really put a bad thing on my name or get incriminate people, whatever it is, generally you can post whatever you want and if a company has a problem like that with that, then you know you're probably, you probably don't want to be there anyway.
Speaker 1:I just want to clarify what Clark said. When he said psycho furry, what he was referencing is Sonic Fox, one of the greatest fighting game community members of all times, who is psychotically good at video games and also happens to be a furry. Nothing wrong with that. You be you, we love you. You can be you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't judge, you can be whatever you'd like.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, you can and be yourself. Don't hide that from the world, especially if you're special, unique, talented or just a cool person. It's, it's the problematic ones that have to change and they don't, so they won't, and I think the big thing is too.
Speaker 2:It's like if you like something, there's a good chance a lot more people like it, so feel weird about it. Just find the people that you fit in with and you know it's not. Probably not that weird. Generally, people are interested in things, and it's very rare when you're the only person in the world interested in something.
Speaker 1:Right, and if you are the only person, there's nothing to worry about because no one's going to understand it, they won't come after you anyway. Very true, I feel good, clark. I don't think we need to hit the rest of these. The last one is be who you are, but I feel like we just established that.
Speaker 2:I just hate the first sentence. Can you read that first sentence? I just want to hear you read it.
Speaker 1:Though you will have to adjust and adapt like a lizard crawling out of the primordial soup. Do not try to ape anyone.
Speaker 2:I hate that. Do not try to ape anyone. Why? Why did this person write this like this?
Speaker 1:I don't know this person, the person who wrote this article. While they had some good points, I think they need to look into the mirror and ask themselves all of these questions.
Speaker 2:I'm just trying to like read the last sentence and see if anything's interesting, but I think it's the help you survive in the brutal corporate world. I don't think. I think the general negative connotation of this whole article is it doesn't have to be that way. Yes, Are you freshers out there? Are you people who are fresher right now in wherever you are? It's look for other opportunities.
Speaker 2:It's not that way everywhere. I mean Bruce and I can attest We've been in some frustrating positions at other companies, but there are some that are awesome and I have frustrations with my company now. I have frustrations with every company I work with, but I also there's some really good stuff there too, which is why I stick around. So it's not all negative and there is a lot of positive stuff inside of like the corporate world.
Speaker 1:And it's super weird too. I'm in my mid 30s now. I'm still considered young by many, many, and they're still in such right and I'm. I'm in a pretty respectable position. I have authority, I have control over my destiny, and people will still throw the young card at me. So if you are really young in your career, don't let that get you down. It's going to continue for 20 more years and then you're going to die.
Speaker 2:So just get used to it. I'll always be someone older. I'll always be someone older than you that thinks they have more experience and knows better.
Speaker 1:The crazy thing is is there'll be younger people that come in that are younger than you and they will still think they're better than you and more senior than you and all that. So it's it's not an age thing, it's an attitude thing and generally I would say, avoid that attitude. That type of person is not the kind of person you want to be around. Avoid hierarchies and positions, right? If you're in a place where it's like, hey, I have authority over you because there's a senior in my title, Geez, you're in a bad spot. Unfortunately, it's in a lot of places. But look for flat hierarchies when respect is universal and everyone is on equal playing field of equal value.
Speaker 2:Great way to end it. Well, thank you to Squid Boy for the article.
Speaker 1:That was a lot of fun. It was. This one was a. This part two, I think. We went Empire Strikes Back. Somehow wasn't as funny as the first part, but I think we covered a lot of ground. It's a good job, clark.
Speaker 2:We did. It was good. There's there's definitely hopefully a lot of good tips and you guys tell us. Tell us what you found useful and what you didn't, and join the discord. Yes, it's awesome. The discord.
Speaker 1:Meet folks like Squid Boy. They're great. We have really good content in here. If you want to find out how to get the discord, if you want to find out how to support us, if you want to find out how to submit topics or talk to us, all you do is go to our website. It's corporate strategybiz B-I-Z. The biz stands for business. Oh, Clark, I had a thing. So I know this was not part of our schedule for today, but I did hear something this week I wanted to share. I should share at the beginning. I'm sharing in the end. Someone told me this. This was actually spoken to them one time, or during a meeting. This email distracted me from my scheduled bi-weekly one-on-one with my family.
Speaker 2:They have a scheduled bi weekly one-on-one with their own family.
Speaker 1:I had to write it down. I had to write it down. Is that on their calender? Oh my goodness, that is incredible. Yes, I hope your life isn't like that.
Speaker 2:I mean, maybe it brings you some sandwiches If someone mis"-. And I mean, no, I want to spell it.
Speaker 2:The subject in the first five Buddies. Wasоссayan, true, so that throw Günther off day by day. Can I get it? Just drop itida v word. Maybe it brings you some sanity if you're super OCD. But man, if you've got to schedule those things and they don't come naturally, that sounds so stressful. Priorities, priorities, yeah, I mean in some sense I guess it could be good if you guys just don't know how to communicate and you're trying to figure out how to do it. Oh man, but that's rough.
Speaker 2:Yes, I guess I kind of respect that for them saying like, how dare you interrupt my personal time? But the response as to what they interrupted is just absurd, Genjeweled.
Speaker 1:Bi-weekly One-on-one with my family.
Speaker 2:I love it, I bi-weekly. This is actually important for all of us. When you say bi-weekly, do you mean twice a week, or do you mean every two weeks? I?
Speaker 1:think I God, I pray. They're talking twice a week.
Speaker 2:I always. Whenever I say bi-weekly, I mean once every two weeks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I usually assume two, but in this case I'm hoping it was not, because why have a family at that point? Yeah, that's not a family anymore. That's just like your remote responsibility, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't think it hurts to have a family meeting about things once a month to talk about what you're doing or important stuff like that. But yeah, I hope you can just do that, naturally.
Speaker 1:Just learn how to communicate. Yeah, I thought that was a good one You're sharing again. Be who you are, but also know your life. Know where you stand. Again, check out our website corporatestrategybiz. Biz stands for business. If you listen to us on a podcast platform, give us a nice review. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your neighbors, tell your enemies, because if you hate this pod, nothing will bother them more than making them listen to it.
Speaker 2:So there's a strategy for everyone out there. It's safe for the littler, littler ear.
Speaker 1:So it's to cover your family.
Speaker 2:While you're in your minivan driving the kids to school, succumb them to listen to us so they can be like three swears in our entire run of this show.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we definitely would be PG 13 at best, but I think we could be a Steven Spielberg PG, if you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, we could go in and out, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I'm not, I'm not dropping any. I'm not dropping any swear bombs because I want them little ears to feel safe. I want the kids to listen to corporate strategies so they can get ready for the hellscape.
Speaker 2:That is the rest of their life, exactly For the dooming future that they will have in the rest of this world where the brutal corporate world will massively ruin their lives. Great, looking forward to it. So all you little kids out there, have a blast, enjoy. Hope you don't ever want to retire, it's gonna be a rocky ride.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is Okay. I think that's all we got time for this week before Clark and I become doomers, which is the next stage in this podcast. Obviously. Thank you, as always, for your listenership. We appreciate you. We love you. We love your participation in the Discord. Join us. We're on Instagram, we're on Twitter, we're on YouTube. Eventually, look for us, we'll be there like a beacon in the night, but until then, I'm Bruce and I'm Clark and you're on mute. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2:Get out of here, Craig.
