The Greatest Compliment......

I ever received in my professional life was while working at IBM as a global marketing manager in the consumer division. The comliment - "How is it you seem to be the only one around here who ever gets anything done!" was uttered by a colleague who was among the myriad of people who allowed themselves to be frustrated by the system. Sure it was arcane, confusing, illogical and at times hostile, but somehow I managed to quietly find the right people to work with and the right words to use to make things move. Sometimes I think it's more an art than a science, but in large organizations I've learned that the first order of business is figuring out who the people are that can make things happen, what their agendas are and how to best play to their needs. It's the art of office politics and I guess I play them well, even though I generally hate them (and am really hating them these days).