Picture this. It was well past midnight, and you were at home, the same place where you had been living for the past eight years. You were enjoying a sound sleep, with your sweetheart sleeping peacefully next to you and your kids sleeping in the other bedroom. The time on the clock displayed half past two. You woke up feeling thirsty. The room was pitch black.
You realized that you forgot
to place the water bottle in the room before hitting the bed. This meant, you
had to head to the kitchen where the bottle was kept. You had to walk a few
feet from the bedroom to the kitchen. The big question is what would you have
done? Would you sacrifice the need to quench your thirst or defy the darkness,
walk to the kitchen, drink water, come back and continue sleeping as if nothing
happened in the world during those moments?
Personally, I never found it
difficult to navigate in darkness. While the initial moments after I woke up in
the middle of a night were always a bit of challenge, my brain usually got used
to the dark environment quite soon. I could then make myself go around the
house and helped myself with a bottle of water or anything else I needed at
night.
But one day we had to
rearrange some items in the house. Some of the furniture had to be changed
places, so were a few plants. That night, around three in the morning, I woke
up thirsty. As always, with my usual confidence, I headed to the kitchen. Little
did I remember that some of the items around the house changed their locations.
Before even I knew, I tripped on a small table and hit my head on the wall
after losing my balance. It served as a good reminder not to take anything for
granted, even when you are in a familiar environment, with the same set of
items placed around you.
Now think about your office
space. The corporate world is a big bad jungle. You will see all kinds of
people around you, who have different behaviour traits, just like the animals
in a jungle. Over a period of time you may develop a level of comfort with many
of your colleagues. You may think the same, when it comes to your engagement
with senior leaders in your organisation. You may find it quite easy to deal
with all of them any given day.
Having said that, just like a
jungle, you may suddenly come across a danger that was lurking in one corner
that you never noticed before. All of a sudden, that one friendly colleague may
reveal the personality of a traitor. The boss whom you deeply trusted may
transform into the worst bully you had ever known. The executive leader of your
department whom you admired and even revered may display the true colors which
really turned out to be nasty. All of these may suddenly sweep you off your
feet. Just like how the rearranged furniture made me trip one night, when I
thought everything was normal.
All of us, being humans,
naturally tend to trust people over a period of time. That is how we are
designed. But always remind ourselves that someone whom you considered as a
known angel may truly be an unknown devil in disguise.
Hence, while being fearless
in darkness may make you feel like a knight, be aware of the presence of
predatorial instincts in the corporate jungle, so that you do not trip yourself
and become a prey. You do not need to wait to learn this from your own experience.
Watch your seniors, listen to their stories and adapt your own course of
journey. This will help you detect potential threats, fight those battles you
could win, but more importantly retreat from others which is not worth the
fight to win another day. This will ensure that you do not end up on the
wall-of-sympathy in your organisation for being the unfortunate prey, who chose
not to be careful about the changing dynamics of the office environment.
Watch out and be safe! They
are all out there...
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