2205: Ducking the Crosshairs: Five Ways to Deal with Office Politics by Laura Stack on Workplace Communication
Optimal Work Daily - Career, Productivity and EntrepreneurshipShow Notes
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Episode 2205:
Laura Stack shares five ways to stay out of the line of fire when office politics turn ugly, drawing on her own experience as a newly minted MBA whose plant safety report was buried by colleagues who resented her. Her rules are to refuse gossip in both directions, stay out of other people's causes, avoid griping aloud even to work friends, resist the pull to suck up, and push back on a boss who dictates who to be friendly with. She is direct that none of it guarantees immunity, but that quietly doing the work is still the better bet for a career.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://theproductivitypro.com/blog/2017/08/ducking-the-crosshairs-five-ways-to-deal-with-office-politics/
Quotes to ponder:
"Avoid gossip. Don't spread it, and don't listen to it."
"Don't gripe aloud at work, even to people you consider friends."
"Even if you keep your head down, there's nothing you can do to avoid office politics if someone wants to target you."
Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from Optimal Work Daily - Career, Productivity and Entrepreneurship
Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2214: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner explains how to prepare to quit a day job and become self-employed, drawing on her own move to working for herself full-time. In this first part, she makes the case for building a business on the side first, which lowers the risk while testing whether the idea can actually replace a full-time income. She also walks through pricing out health insurance and the other benefits an employer used to cover, so the switch to entrepreneurship brings fewer surprises. Read along with the original article here: https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2022/01/how-to-quit-your-job-and-become-self-employed.html Quotes to ponder: "Starting your business on the side of your full-time job can reduce a lot of stress." "Self-employment isn't for everyone." "It's much better to do your research and price out how much things like health and dental insurance will cost before you quit your job." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2213: Lisa Whitley explains why leaving an investment banking job in New York to join the Peace Corps in Zimbabwe was the best career decision she ever made. She describes how two years advising new entrepreneurs showed her where her passion and skills fit in international economic development, which led to an 18-year career as a foreign service officer. She argues that a career switch does not require knowing the whole next chapter in advance, and credits earlier choices, like less expensive schools and staying free of debt, with giving her the flexibility to take the leap. Read along with the original article here: https://womenwhomoney.com/career-move-joining-peace-corps/ Quotes to ponder: "It was the best career decision that I had ever made." "The biggest obstacle to making a career switch can be the very understandable compulsion that you need to know exactly what the next chapter will look like before you take the plunge." "But the choices that you make now can allow you the freedom to flex later." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2212: Michael Mehlberg explains why finding a competitor already serving a market is no reason to shelve a business idea. Drawing on advice from his business coach and the law of exclusivity from The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, he argues that no company owns a market outright and that customers routinely buy from competing providers. The entrepreneurship lesson is to recognize the value in hard-won knowledge, find a distinct angle, double down on why customers choose the business, and take action. Read along with the original article here: https://michaelmehlberg.com/blog/2018/5/14/finding-your-value-despite-the-competition Quotes to ponder: "If you have something of value to offer the world, there's usually a business in it." "They may have market share, but they don't own it." "Just because someone else is doing something similar doesn't mean you can't build a business." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free. Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home. Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com Episode 2211: Kevin of Financial Panther explains how leaving his day job changed the way work fits into his life. He argues that most people give their best, most productive hours to an employer and squeeze everything else into what is left, while self-employment let him take back control of his schedule. The takeaway is that financial independence is really about control, and a job built around one's life can deliver much of that work-life balance well before the money does. Read along with the original article here: https://financialpanther.com/make-your-job-fit-around-your-life/ Quotes to ponder: "Instead of your life fitting around your job, your job should fit around your life." "The point of financial independence isn't about accumulating money. It's about getting back control of our lives." "My job fits around my life, not the other way around." Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free.