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.