How To Play The Corporate Game & Climb The Corporate Ladder

I’ve bad mouthed corporations a lot in my writings. I’ve said that they are no place for men and that they’re toxic and whole hell of a lot more. I’ve said their anathema to what is good and natural, responsible for much of the world’s evils, will chew you up and spit you out, and worse. And I stand by all of those things that I’ve said.

So what on earth am I doing writing an article about to succeed in the corporate hellscape? Because here’s the thing. We all have to make compromises in this life and in this world, some big and some large. And here’s the other thing. We need money to survive and frankly there is a ton of money in corporations. There’s money to be had there, however you have to be savvy and smart about how to get it.

Entrepreneurship is nice but it’s not for everyone and even then to truly succeed as an entrepreneur you need startup capital and knowledge. You need time playing the game to figure out how it works. I’ve recommend sales to do this in the past and I stand by that. Sales pays the bills and sales knowledge is some of the most valuable to have when it comes to making money and advancing your career.

But sometimes a sales job isn’t available or isn’t going to work. Sometimes you have to ‘make a deal with the devil’ and get into the corporate world and for those that do understand a few things.

1. Lack of knowledge can get you killed.
2. Corporations are not your friend.
3. Your there for money first and foremost.

Understanding those three things and you’re already ahead of most people but there’s more to it than that. So for those that find themselves working in the corporation atmosphere and learning to not just survive, but thrive, here’s a guide to help you do that.

Skills, Politics, & Lambs To The Slaughter

How do you succeed in the corporate field? First and foremost I think we all know it’s not being the best at your job. Being the best at your job has little to no correlation with promotion or even being kept around when the inevitable layoffs happen. Sure it’s a nice to have and depending on who you are may be a need to have. But don’t for a second think being the best at your job is going to make a company keep you around or much less get you promoted. It won’t even be enough to get you hired.

So then if being the best at your job isn’t the key to succeeding then what is?

Truth be told, there is no ‘one thing’, it’s going to be a combination of things. And also don’t think that I’m saying that you should be bad at your job. That’ll get you thrown out too. I’m just saying being good or even great or even the best at your job is not enough for success. But it’s still needed to get to the playing field and stay on it. But again so what are the factors that do determine your success?

Well there are a few.

Skills, politics, and things outside your control. We’ll start with things outside your control race, sex, family connections, bloodline, family money, so on and so forth. All of these things can make a huge difference but they are things that are not in your control. It’s great if your daddy plays golf with the CEO of a big company or what not but not something we can rely on to get the results, the job, and the life that we want. But just understand these factors will always be there.

So what about skills. What skills do we need to develop? Well job competency we already went over but that’s not the most important ones. The most important ones are soft skills. They go by many different names and cover a variety of topics but essentially sales, communication, negotiating, leading, managing (up and down), and human relation skills. Soft skills. The skills that grease human interactions and make them tolerable. Those skills. Those are the skills that’ll pay the bills and get you promoted. Learn them. Read books on them, take courses, master them like your life depends on it.

Because your income will.

And that brings us to politics and politicking. You have to know how to play the corporate game. So many have these old world beliefs that working hard and being honest will get you ahead when they won’t and could actually be liabilities. You’re not working a farm in the 1820’s, you’re working for a corporation in the modern age. You have to be as astute as Machiavelli when it comes to politics. You have to know how to suck up and kiss ass without it looking like sucking up and kissing ass.

You need to know how to grease palms, kiss babies, and all the like. Look at is as if you were trying to be a politicians. You need to know how to say the right thing and forge the right alliance. You need to know when to keep your mouth shut and when to speak up. You need to be people sensitive and savvy. You should be an expert at reading body language, human psychology, and a whole lot more. Understand this combined with soft skills is the most important things for success.

How To Acquire These Things

Experience and time will teach. There is no doubt about that. But if all you rely on is experience and time you’ll never get very far and are likely to burn out or fail before reaching your destination. You need more. Books are God’s gift to man. To take one’s brain and transcribe it into another. The magic of books is something that will never fail to amaze me. The reading of books and application of the knowledge found within is real life super power. A real life gift from the gods. All of these skills that I’ve talked about, that I’ve listed above, much of them can be learned from books.

Go online or to your local bookstore or library and pick up an armful of them. All that you can on the topics discussed above. You much master these skills. Hit the books and learn like you were cramming for a university final. Because this test is much more important than any university final. Not only will you use these skills to get a job in the first place but you’ll also use them to keep your job and then get promoted from your job and work your way up in the company.

If you want book recommendations and more then shoot me an email on the contact page.

And as always thanks for reading.

If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!

-Charles Sledge