In Praise of the Office Suck-Up
Hello, and welcome back. In this edition we take a look at the workplace archteype nearly everyone's familiar with—the office suck-up—and how you can put that coworker's people-pleasing tendencies to work for you. Plus, a look at the new reality for workers at big-tech firms and the latest, more casual office status symbol.
This is a short version of The Wall Street Journal’s Careers & Leadership newsletter. Sign up here to get the full edition in your inbox every week.
Make the Office Suck-Up Work for You
They loiter around the boss’s office. They dole out compliments to all the right people. They chime in enthusiastically at every meeting.The only thing more maddening than observing an office suck-up in action is realizing that it’s working. Yet, these people-pleasers can teach us a lot about promoting our contributions and interacting with the boss. Maybe it's time to create an alliance with your office suck-up.
Your Boss Is Over Hybrid Work. Here’s How to Stay Flexible
More companies are stepping up in-office work requirements or backtracking on earlier pledges to soften the rigid 9-to-5 schedule, and bosses are tracking who's complying with the new demands. Some workers say they have honed tactics for maintaining some work flexibility while making higher-ups feel they are omnipresent—but they take finesse and organization. Think shared calendars and scheduled email updates, for starters.
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Millennials Are Changing What It Takes to Succeed in Sales
The biggest generation in the workforce is taking over purchasing for much of the corporate world—and transforming the sales profession in the process. For sales professionals, the shift means much less time working the phones and wooing a few executives at a prospective company. Instead, deals take longer, involve more people and often require a different combination of skills.
Elsewhere in The Wall Street Journal
Check out some of the Journal’s other best-read stories on work life and the office over the past week:
This is a condensed version of WSJ’s Careers & Leadership newsletter. Sign up here to get the WSJ’s comprehensive work coverage in your inbox each week.
This newsletter was curated by Vanessa Fuhrmans, the WSJ’s deputy careers and work bureau chief. Let us know what you think by dropping us a note at [email protected] .?
Photo and illustration credits, from top: Danny Lawson/Zuma Press; Shutterstock; Andrea Arevalo for The Wall Street Journal
I’m retired now but the colleagues I despised were the ones who promoted themselves by putting down others. Usually within earshot of a passing boss.
Engineer
1 年Agreed
Next Trend Realty LLC./wwwHar.com/Chester-Swanson/agent_cbswan
1 年Well Said.
Pricing Analyst @ HD Supply | Margin Improvement, Data Analytics
1 年I get why staying on the boss's good side is important. With that being said, cultivating meaningful, positive relationships with co-workers and other departments counts for a lot too. Resentful and spiteful behavior are destructive and just as bad as sucking up is, no matter who the bad energy is directed towards. I feel like this article would have been more effective if it was actively discussing why this dynamic exists in the first place rather than how to game an already unbalanced and unfair system. Then again, everything is unfair and unbalanced at some level.
21 Years of Dental Insurance experience. Dental Network Service Supervisor | Employee Training, Problem Solving, Negotiations, Network Retention
1 年It does seem in the corporate world it is who you know not vs. what you do. What you do gets you paid, the relationships you foster is what gets you promoted.