Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Chapter Nine

MR. NICE GUY

Many powerful people keep demanding things of you, and you fear the consequences of saying no.

 

 

 

 

The desire to please others is strong in many people, and it’s natural to be hesitant to say no, particularly to powerful people. With a busy work schedule, it can become very difficult to do everything, and our stress can grow if we keep saying yes. But how will other people react if we say no to their demands? And what harm can they do to our careers?

Always doing what others request—being Mr. Nice Guy—is a naive option if career success is important to us. Being in demand proves that we have power, but if we are Mr. Nice Guys, then we may need help deciding how best to use our power within the organization. What happens when the demands are too many or too great? We can’t say yes to everything. But what do we do if we find it hard to say, No more Mr. Nice Guy?

The Mr. Nice Guy Dilemma

Jane wants this by tomorrow. Al needs the KPI variance report by Monday. Don needs me to look into something before his four o’clock meeting. The list is endless. Everyone wants something from me, and most of it is wanted right now—or before!

I’m getting pretty stressed about all of it, and I’m really worried that I’m going to mess up pretty soon. There are a lot of nasty people out there who don’t mind striking out if you don’t do what they want. Take Adrian for example. He’s quite vicious when he doesn’t get his way. One friend ...