Obstacle # 1 on the road to success

What primarily prevents most people from succeeding?
Not a lack of intelligence or hard work .
Relationship
Sounds like that nonsense that your parents tortured you at the age of 16?
Maybe, but similar thoughts are in the expert opinions and research results ...

The war for talent is a myth

Marketing genius Seth Godin says this is actually a battle for attitude.
In reality, this is not a search for talent. This is a search approach. There are not many activities where only pure skills are required. Perhaps this is good for the first violin in the string quartet. But, in fact, even there the winners from the losers are distinguished not by talent, but by mood.
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What does Harvard call item number 1 on a salary interview?

First you need to like them. This is the first component. The more you do something that kills their sympathy for you, the less chance you have of achieving the desired ...

No, attitude is not everything. Of course, there is experience, education, and other factors, but you will be surprised to know how few some of them mean.

Hard work? Ha! He is overvalued ...

Jeffrey Pfeier, an MBA professor at Stanford, explains: according to research results, productivity is very weakly related to career advancement.

The data show that productivity does not have such a strong influence on what happens to most people in many organizations. What matters is the effect your virtues produce. It affects the universal assessment of the quality of work, and even on your seniority and career prospects.

Studies show that sympathies affect certification much more than actual performance.
In an experimental study of the assessments of business qualities obtained by people, it was revealed: those who are able to make a positive impression received higher scores than people who actually work better, but who are not inclined to control their opinions about themselves.

This is a contest in popularity - and not always meaningless.

Caught yourself on the phrase “I'm right and they are wrong!”? Congratulations, you have confirmation that your behavior is defiant.

Yes, this is a contest in popularity - and not necessarily unfair.

The more people in the office have friends, the better they work there.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has spent a whole year monitoring 2,600 workers. Researchers studied their social connections and even used mathematical formulas to analyze the size and composition of their address books and lists of friends. As a result, it became clear: the higher the IBM employees had a level of social adaptation, the better they worked. Scientists even calculated the difference: on average, each email address added $ 948 to income.

The most reliable guarantee of team success is not mental abilities or efforts, but what the members of the group think of each other.

The better we think about our employees, the higher our efficiency will be. For example, a study of more than 350 employees in 60 structural divisions of a company's financial service revealed that, more precisely, the team’s achievements are determined by how its members relate to each other.

It's not about "honesty", but about "trust"

Don't shout “It's not fair!” Life is not like meritocracy flourishing in elementary school.

The school is able to deform our brains. In a work environment, there are rare situations when you are an employee who makes an individual contribution to the development of a company and can use all the possibilities of your position.
In the education system, cooperation is considered “fraud”. And in business it is the main method of work.
And where there is cooperation, there is the problem of trust.

Does the company believe that you are on its side? Do company leaders believe that you agree with their goals and objectives?
Hard work will not necessarily be rewarded, but, as research shows, like-minded people are always promoted.
Recently published business research of the University. Brigham Young found that workers who “firmly believe” in the organization’s mission have more chances to improve their status and influence than “unbelievers” ...

The study revealed that those who demonstrate a firm faith in the mission or ideology of the brand are becoming more influential in company management circles, and people working “from bell to bell” turn into players on the periphery, regardless of their position or superior performance.

Cynthia Shapiro, a former professional in the field of HR, lists everything:

The more your daily actions and decisions correspond to the desired company image, the better the company's opinion of you, and the more reliable your working position. How do you find out about this? Those who demonstrate clear solidarity receive recognition, approval and encouragement, even if their skills are imperfect. It may be better if I repeat it again: it is they who are promoted regardless of their own skills and productivity.

Highly skilled workers, at first glance very valuable for organizations, are fired daily: they are a potential risk and are not credible. On the contrary, they will promote employees who do not have special skills, or even learn the subtleties of work and bring huge costs, because they, according to the company’s feelings, are like-minded, and therefore they can be trusted more than others.

What to do next

Remember the lesson of Don Quixote:

If you want to be a knight, act like a knight.

How does it work in the office?

Be what you were at the interview.

It was this man they hired. That they hoped to get for their money. You were positive, energetic, well prepared and eager to please.
And what else does the company need?

PS We recommend another article on the topic - 8 steps to success from the most successful people .

Translated by Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult .