There are an endless amount of characters in the workplace.

There’s the lady you find in the break room, always on a diet and commenting on your weight (God help you if you are proportionate, she will eat you alive). The guy who shows off way too many baby pictures of his not-that-cute-kid. The girl who stays in her office with the door shut, even during fire drills. And the dreaded over-talker who never gets the hint (which might explain why that one girl stays in her office).

We all play roles in our workplaces, many of which are unique to only our office. But there’s a standard cast of characters as well. You can find varieties of them anywhere you go, but they all share the same skill sets. They are the ones who will succeed and the ones who will fail.

In lieu of filling you with fluffy “this is what a successful person looks like” talk, I thought I’d take the opposite route. The following is a list of people who stand out for all the wrong reasons. Fair warning: If you don’t know who this person is at your office, it might be you.

1. The Gullible One.

If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that you should never believe everything a company says. Don’t believe them when they say they don’t expect layoffs (the mere mention of that word suggests they’re on the way). Don’t believe that they’ve offered you the highest salary they can. Don’t believe them when they say they can’t negotiate your raise. And definitely don’t believe them when they say “this year has been really bad, but next year you’re going to get hooked up on that promotion you want!”

When a boss, HR rep or recruiter (or anyone playing a role in your career and financial success) states something that makes you tilt your head to the side and think “huh…that seems sketch,” don’t just accept it.

As I’ve said before, the car dealer will act like he can’t budge on a number. But if you stand up and start walking to the door he’ll automatically find a discount for you. Companies are in it for the bottom line even when they’re negotiating things with their employees. They want to encourage you to stick around while also finding a way to save money. And it saves them money to give you a smaller raise, to skip a round of promotions, to make you work through Christmas. Don’t fall for it.


2. The Groupthinker.

Groupthink is a psychological problem that runs rampant in workplaces. Even more if you’ve got a large population of “longtermers” in a corporation. Groupthink is why technology isn’t updated, why policies are outdated, why there’s no new blood (or ideas) on a team, why you hear the sentence “you can’t do that, that’s not how we’ve always done it!”

It’s easy to spot these people, especially if you’re new to a company. They sit in clumps together and they make bizarre statements in meetings, they do the same things every day and they complain when their life is disrupted by something (or someone) new.

If you fight against a mass of groupthinkers, you run a high risk of failure, persecution, derailment and tons of frustration. But if you engage and join them, you will become stupid and possibly unmarketable for your next career jump. Take your pick.


3. The Fearful One.

People do ridiculous things when they’re scared. Just ask anyone who’s died in a horror movie (I mean, who drops the phone and runs up the stairs?!).

Fearful people will cause you serious amounts of trouble at work. If they’re scared of getting fired, they will find a way to point a finger at you. If their project is failing, they will suggest your role was to blame. Drowning people will grab whatever they can to keep their head above water. Don’t stand too close and become that object.

And don’t become the drowning person. If you ever feel worried about something at work, you sense something bad coming your way or you screw up big time, avoid the fear by taking some action. Talk to someone, your boss, your mentor or a peer to get information that will quell your fears. Or fess up and find out immediately what repercussions are headed your way for the screw-up so you’re not worried about the unknowns. Do whatever you need to do in order to avoid becoming the fearful one.


4. Apathetic Guy.

The other day, a friend of mine posted a message on Facebook FB +3.3% stating her frustration that people keep calling her upcoming maternity leave a “vacation.” She mentioned a litany of things that have to be done while you’re on maternity leave (none of it sounded remotely vacation’ish). She referenced this because she felt judged and persecuted for her decision to take the time off.

Consider now the single person. If you haven’t been in this demo for awhile, you might not be aware of this, but single people are also victims of workplace apathy. I’ve actually heard the sentence, “You can stay late tonight to finish this, right? I gotta get out of here and it’s not like you’re going home to a family.”


Everyone is dealing with something. Everyone feels judged and misunderstood every once in awhile. And everyone feels the sting from these moments. Show some compassion even when you’re having trouble putting yourself in their shoes.

Don’t be the apathetic coworker. The grass isn’t always greener, even though it may appear so.


5. The Sore Loser.

Anytime you’re successful or experience something great in life or your career, I guarantee you that someone somewhere will doubt that you earned it the good ‘ol hard-working way. That someone somewhere is the sore loser.

A sore loser will think you got that deal because you’ve got an important last name. Or that you were hired because your Mom sits in the corner office. Or that you simply got lucky (literally and figuratively).

You can’t stop a sore loser from thinking what they want and you can’t convince them out of their opinion. The only way to battle a sore loser is to make sure they’re not right (it might surprise some of you ladies that yes, business can indeed be conducted outside the bedroom!).

Update: It’s been called to my attention by several female readers that the comment above was offensive and diminishes the hard-earned success of females in the workplace. I realize now it was a poor example and misrepresented the very reason I have this column. It wasn’t my goal to suggest that women are perpetuating a Mad Men-era stereotype and that men are absolved of their roles in these scenarios. While it exists, this in fact is NOT a common problem in the workplace. I mentioned it as merely a side note to emphasize the importance in making sure “Sore Losers” are not making accurate accusations by carrying yourself properly in the workplace.

Use your connections and your network to get ahead, but do your own dang work. Show results. Then the sore losers will disappear one by one.


6. Malicious Gossiper.

There’s harmless gossip and then there’s malicious gossip. Harmless gossip is…harmless. But you must avoid the malicious gossiper completely. In fact, put large amounts of space between you and this person.

Assume that since they’re willing to share really bad information with you, they’re sharing it with other people. They’re kind of like the flu.

If you run across a malicious gossiper and they start talking, whatever you do, don’t agree with them. Because the next thing you know, your sentence of “Oh, I agree with you – I bet she totally slept with that guy to get that job” will be shortened to “So and so just told me that so and so slept with so and so!” And voila, you’re screwed.


7. The Apologizer.

I recently attended an event where several startups were invited to pitch. One woman stood up to sell her idea to a room undoubtedly full of millions, a big opportunity for a small company. She looked sharp and ready. But then she opened with, “Don’t worry, this isn’t a crappy website that does blah…”

Well shoot. For the remainder of her presentation, I assumed her website was crappy.

The Apologizer will discredit themselves as soon as they open their mouth. They will start a presentation with qualifying statements like the one above or they will ask for a raise by saying, “I know we don’t have a lot of money, but…” They lose these deals because they show a massive lack of confidence in the statement, regardless of topic.

You don’t necessarily have to avoid this person. Just don’t be this person. The company pays you a salary because they think you’re worth it. You have every right to be in the room and to be having that conversation right then. Why act like you don’t belong there?

Repeat the following statement as many times as you need to before you have an important conversation or make a presentation: Be confident, not cocky.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glassheel/2013/09/18/the-7-people-who-never-succeed-at-work/

A very good one. Meanwhile, glory to God again and again. 1st to comment.

Born 2be Rich: There are an endless amount of characters in the workplace.

There’s the lady you find in the break room, always on a diet and commenting on your weight (God help you if you are proportionate, she will eat you alive). The guy who shows off way too many baby pictures of his not-that-cute-kid. The girl who stays in her office with the door shut, even during fire drills. And the dreaded over-talker who never gets the hint (which might explain why that one girl stays in her office).

We all play roles in our workplaces, many of which are unique to only our office. But there’s a standard cast of characters as well. You can find varieties of them anywhere you go, but they all share the same skill sets. They are the ones who will succeed and the ones who will fail.

In lieu of filling you with fluffy “this is what a successful person looks like” talk, I thought I’d take the opposite route. The following is a list of people who stand out for all the wrong reasons. Fair warning: If you don’t know who this person is at your office, it might be you.

1. The Gullible One.

If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that you should never believe everything a company says. Don’t believe them when they say they don’t expect layoffs (the mere mention of that word suggests they’re on the way). Don’t believe that they’ve offered you the highest salary they can. Don’t believe them when they say they can’t negotiate your raise. And definitely don’t believe them when they say “this year has been really bad, but next year you’re going to get hooked up on that promotion you want!”

When a boss, HR rep or recruiter (or anyone playing a role in your career and financial success) states something that makes you tilt your head to the side and think “huh…that seems sketch,” don’t just accept it.

As I’ve said before, the car dealer will act like he can’t budge on a number. But if you stand up and start walking to the door he’ll automatically find a discount for you. Companies are in it for the bottom line even when they’re negotiating things with their employees. They want to encourage you to stick around while also finding a way to save money. And it saves them money to give you a smaller raise, to skip a round of promotions, to make you work through Christmas. Don’t fall for it.


2. The Groupthinker.

Groupthink is a psychological problem that runs rampant in workplaces. Even more if you’ve got a large population of “longtermers” in a corporation. Groupthink is why technology isn’t updated, why policies are outdated, why there’s no new blood (or ideas) on a team, why you hear the sentence “you can’t do that, that’s not how we’ve always done it!”

It’s easy to spot these people, especially if you’re new to a company. They sit in clumps together and they make bizarre statements in meetings, they do the same things every day and they complain when their life is disrupted by something (or someone) new.

If you fight against a mass of groupthinkers, you run a high risk of failure, persecution, derailment and tons of frustration. But if you engage and join them, you will become stupid and possibly unmarketable for your next career jump. Take your pick.


3. The Fearful One.

People do ridiculous things when they’re scared. Just ask anyone who’s died in a horror movie (I mean, who drops the phone and runs up the stairs?!).

Fearful people will cause you serious amounts of trouble at work. If they’re scared of getting fired, they will find a way to point a finger at you. If their project is failing, they will suggest your role was to blame. Drowning people will grab whatever they can to keep their head above water. Don’t stand too close and become that object.

And don’t become the drowning person. If you ever feel worried about something at work, you sense something bad coming your way or you screw up big time, avoid the fear by taking some action. Talk to someone, your boss, your mentor or a peer to get information that will quell your fears. Or fess up and find out immediately what repercussions are headed your way for the screw-up so you’re not worried about the unknowns. Do whatever you need to do in order to avoid becoming the fearful one.


4. Apathetic Guy.

The other day, a friend of mine posted a message on Facebook FB +3.3% stating her frustration that people keep calling her upcoming maternity leave a “vacation.” She mentioned a litany of things that have to be done while you’re on maternity leave (none of it sounded remotely vacation’ish). She referenced this because she felt judged and persecuted for her decision to take the time off.

Consider now the single person. If you haven’t been in this demo for awhile, you might not be aware of this, but single people are also victims of workplace apathy. I’ve actually heard the sentence, “You can stay late tonight to finish this, right? I gotta get out of here and it’s not like you’re going home to a family.”


Everyone is dealing with something. Everyone feels judged and misunderstood every once in awhile. And everyone feels the sting from these moments. Show some compassion even when you’re having trouble putting yourself in their shoes.

Don’t be the apathetic coworker. The grass isn’t always greener, even though it may appear so.


5. The Sore Loser.

Anytime you’re successful or experience something great in life or your career, I guarantee you that someone somewhere will doubt that you earned it the good ‘ol hard-working way. That someone somewhere is the sore loser.

A sore loser will think you got that deal because you’ve got an important last name. Or that you were hired because your Mom sits in the corner office. Or that you simply got lucky (literally and figuratively).

You can’t stop a sore loser from thinking what they want and you can’t convince them out of their opinion. The only way to battle a sore loser is to make sure they’re not right (it might surprise some of you ladies that yes, business can indeed be conducted outside the bedroom!).

Update: It’s been called to my attention by several female readers that the comment above was offensive and diminishes the hard-earned success of females in the workplace. I realize now it was a poor example and misrepresented the very reason I have this column. It wasn’t my goal to suggest that women are perpetuating a Mad Men-era stereotype and that men are absolved of their roles in these scenarios. While it exists, this in fact is NOT a common problem in the workplace. I mentioned it as merely a side note to emphasize the importance in making sure “Sore Losers” are not making accurate accusations by carrying yourself properly in the workplace.

Use your connections and your network to get ahead, but do your own dang work. Show results. Then the sore losers will disappear one by one.


6. Malicious Gossiper.

There’s harmless gossip and then there’s malicious gossip. Harmless gossip is…harmless. But you must avoid the malicious gossiper completely. In fact, put large amounts of space between you and this person.

Assume that since they’re willing to share really bad information with you, they’re sharing it with other people. They’re kind of like the flu.

If you run across a malicious gossiper and they start talking, whatever you do, don’t agree with them. Because the next thing you know, your sentence of “Oh, I agree with you – I bet she totally slept with that guy to get that job” will be shortened to “So and so just told me that so and so slept with so and so!” And voila, you’re screwed.


7. The Apologizer.

I recently attended an event where several startups were invited to pitch. One woman stood up to sell her idea to a room undoubtedly full of millions, a big opportunity for a small company. She looked sharp and ready. But then she opened with, “Don’t worry, this isn’t a crappy website that does blah…”

Well shoot. For the remainder of her presentation, I assumed her website was crappy.

The Apologizer will discredit themselves as soon as they open their mouth. They will start a presentation with qualifying statements like the one above or they will ask for a raise by saying, “I know we don’t have a lot of money, but…” They lose these deals because they show a massive lack of confidence in the statement, regardless of topic.

You don’t necessarily have to avoid this person. Just don’t be this person. The company pays you a salary because they think you’re worth it. You have every right to be in the room and to be having that conversation right then. Why act like you don’t belong there?

Repeat the following statement as many times as you need to before you have an important conversation or make a presentation: Be confident, not cocky.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glassheel/2013/09/18/the-7-people-who-never-succeed-at-work/

hmm

A good one

In addition, fools who would quote the whole of a very long post on NL only to comment "hmm."

What of those wey dey cari hangover come office

Eleyi gidi gan
this 1 iz strong
I neva start work bt dis point ar useful

There is always a list for everything .....

Reali true

Too much vocab, very hard to digest

Nice 1

I apologize a lot, is that a wrong thing to do?

Giant teeth mode activated

iterator25: hmm

must u quote all that, just because of "hmm"... Smh

iterator25: hmm

do you have to quote the whole thread mumu??

Reading through the GULLIBLE ones reminds me of my former boss. O boy the guy get sweet mouth die. Believe him at your own risk. We believed him initially, when we knew the kind of person he was, his words were no longer regarded as what to be taken seriously. If he promises you anything, until you have that thing your hands or account, take it as one of those numerous unfulfilled promises. If in you hand, ensure you leave the four corners of the office immediately, drop the stuff somewhere and come back. He changes his mind like the blinking of eyes. The guy na bad guy

well it is kind of strange on the things we attached so much importance to. Now in every aspect of our lives we employed binary decisions: success/failure just to make us feel better, by the way who decides who is successful and who is not in life.

It is strange that all the noise about success/failure who did what and who didn't boils down to waste of energy. Has anyone ever try to look at his/her life in light of that of the "ordinary" farmer in the village? Both the "ordinary" farmer and the successful CEO of blue chips companies are doing same thing; passing time and waiting for the ultimate end.

Its just like sitting in a lobby in the hospital waiting to be attended to, you see several people doing different things while they wait: some reading paper, some listening to music with their headset, some just with their thoughts etc At the end who can really say for such that anyone of them has failed in an attempt to "utilize" their time while waiting to be attended to?

I personally think that we should stop spreading some self-serving "judgment" around just because if you really look at this the way they are without the worldly connotation attached to it, you would realize that in this battle called life, their is no victor!

O

Good one

Nice one

iterator25: hmm

you had to quote whole post for this?

iterator25: hmm

And This Guy Just Got Himself More Popular With The Number Of People That Quoted This Little Comment.

I Like Your Strategy Jare.

Oops, I Quoted Him...

iterator25: hmm

Your are really something else, you actually quoted the whole article just to write "hmm", what on earth is wrong with you.

@OP, lovely article, and It is quite enlighten.

Basic: In addition, fools who would quote the whole of a very long post on NL only to comment "hmm."

no6 apply to people like you...
must you always criticise?

no comment......just passing.....

Op, what about those with the PhD(Pull him/her down) syndrome. They seem to believe they can only climb by pulling others down on their way.