Idiotion

An article at businesspundit.com explores some reasons for the truism about who you know, and what it takes to be successful in business. Even though he makes the case for the thoughtful introvert, he explains some of the reasons why we don’t get ahead as fast as we would like.

The point of all this is that, in business, you really do get ahead more by being liked rather than by being brilliant. Sure, you need to have some minimum level of competence, but if people like your personality, they will let mild transgressions slide. And deep deep down, they really don’t want to work with someone disciplined and demanding, because it might make them look bad. No one likes to be held accountable.

Sometimes I think that we are all in sales, that everything we achieve is proportional to the number of people we talk to. Maybe shyness should be covered as a disability.

Just listened to a piece on public radio about black people in San Francisco. Apparently they’ve been heading for the suburbs in droves because the city is too expensive. Stable institutions like churches have seen their attendance decimated as their congregation departs.

The tone of the piece implied that this was a bad thing, and perhaps it is. But the same has been said of white flight, implying that inner cities become a wasteland of ethnic poverty. Perhaps both viewpoints are correct. If the old patterns of segregation are being maintained then nothing improves. On the other hand, maybe the major effect in play is old-fashioned resistance to change.

This is mostly a rant, a little diatribe about the social nature of people. You know who they are, you probably complain about them several times a week. They’re the poor sad souls with the genetics for obstruction, some built-in radar for getting in the way, congregating at doorways, weaving in front of you as you try to walk by them, parking their cart in the supermarket to obstruct the whole aisle.

Or maybe the whole thing is random, a basic side-effect of small events, and a message from above to slow down, get in touch with priorities, take a moment to reflect. If so, I’m in trouble. I think of myself as patient but those idiots drive me mad. Pray for me!