= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
nazgulnarsil comments on The fallacy of work-life compartmentalization - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (91)
The frustrating thing is that what some of my supervisors have wanted from me is failure. Robert Greene lists the first rule of power as 'Never Outshine the Master'. This has meant sometimes sabotaging projects to increase my status (and prevent hostility). I sometimes find that just a few hours per week on a project is an optimal contribution and I have had some success with using the remaining work time to work on external projects.
Unfortunately, playing that game in the long term requires either the right personality or psychological reserves that I did not have at the time so I left what was at least superficially a perfect opportunity to get paid a full time wage while actually working on my own entrepreneurial interests.
I've encountered quite a bit of hostility when proselytizing that viewpoint. I just can't wrap my head around the sort of worldview that causes people to feel bad for giving their boss what they want. I think a lot of overly smart engineering types extend their ego boundaries excessively into the workplace and think of it as their job to "save the company from those bumbling managers."
It's the sort of viewpoint you're supposed to have, not admit to having.
Upvoted for the point about ego boundaries, but pardon me, "overly smart"??
Yes, when you take on a job for someone, it's wise to focus on fulfilling the request, and to avoid inflicting help that they haven't asked for. And if the managers are bumbling their way around, your interests are also partly at stake (i.e. you may lose your job if the company fails), so it's legitimate to want to do something about that. You have no obligation to do more than update your resume, but you also have the option of trying to improve things.
overestimating your own impact on the company is a classic bias. thinking that you can save a sinking ship is usually kind of silly.
by overly smart I mean that most engineering jobs require quite a bit less rigor than engineers are trained for. at least in the experience of myself and my engineering friends.
Use of the shift key is preferred.
It is sometimes even wiser to focus on giving the manager what they really want.