Can You Be Successful in the Corporate World and Not be a Sycophant?

How to get on at work

Introduction

Since I left university, I have been wedded to a 9-5 job. There are certainly upsides to this.

One of those upsides is the steady, predictable income. Unlike many starting entrepreneurs, side-hustlers or creators, a permanent 9-5 relieves you of the tension of thinking “when is my next pay check going to come”. This is the case until you’re made redundant of course, but that hasn’t happened yet (thankfully).

But one thing that has bugged me since starting corporate life is the feeling that you need to pedestalise your boss. I have written about this before.

Everyone does it, regardless of what position you are in. Even when you get to the position of the CEO or the Managing Partner, you still feel like you have to pander to the crowd, to restructure your sentences so that the slightest bit of offence isn’t taken by those who listen to you.

This is probably the thing I dislike the most about corporate life. The need to construct and maintain a persona.

But is there an antidote to sycophantism and conformism in corporate life? Is there a way to avoid the chronic feeling that you have to suck up to your boss?

Action vs Words

One of the core lessons I have learnt in nearly three years in the corporate world is that the higher ups value action. They don’t appreciate you saying you’ll do something, and subsequently not doing it. And this habit is encouraged if you regularly practice sycophantism. Paying lip service to your boss in order to gain advantage is people-pleasing behaviour. Similarly, committing to doing something you know is beyond your reach is people-pleasing behaviour. They are two sides of the same coin.

An antidote is to prioritise action over words. When you’re a sycophant you're doing the opposite - it’s words over action. If you really want to please your boss, you’re only option is to do stuff, create stuff, produce stuff. This is an essential corporate philosophy - an essential life philosophy.

Personalities

There is also a point to be made about personalities. People are really different, and despite the corporate world selecting for a kind of uniformism, I have had many bosses, all of whom differing largely in temperament and the way they work.

Therefore, what makes one boss happy is the other’s pet-peve. Some bosses are relaxed, laid back and hands-off. Others are frenetic, and accustomed to supervising via micro-management. I know which style I prefer, but that is besides the point. If you set out to please your boss, you will end up pleasing nobody, and this will be to the detriment of your success in the corporate world because no boss will warm to you - they will see right through the persona.

If you feel yourself constantly needing to impress, the problem could also lie with your boss (as well as you)

You may also question why sycophantism is needed? Surely a healthy culture fosters uniqueness and authentic expression right? The current corporate dogma is to ‘be yourself’ after all.

But not all cultures encourage this, which may beg the questions (a) whether you're in the right workplace and (b) whether your boss is suited to you.

To build on the previous point, everybody is different, and this means that some people are more compatible with us, some people are not. If you find yourself feeling the need to impress all the time, subtly, this is life telling you that your target is not worth the hassle. Whilst judgment and assessment are important in any walk of life, there are few worse feelings than feeling like you need to always conform with your boss’s unrealistic demands.

In a nutshell - maybe it’s time to part ways.

Bluntness over flowery language

As I have grown in experience, I have learnt that people at work value bluntness over niceness. Or at least the vast majority do.

And this is especially for your clients who are often paying a fee for your services and expecting a high quality offering with good results.

Over email, people like short and sharp messaging. Over the phone, people like the quick explanation. This is essentially you producing value for people more quickly. If the reader or listener can bypass all of the unnecessary detail in your email or long-winded explanation over the phone, then you’re succeeding.

Another issue with sycophantism is that it doesn’t allow you to do this. Your bluntness may come across as rude, so the sycophant refrains from being blunt - a big mistake. People like bluntness in an age of instant gratification. People no longer like to read or listen - just provide them with value!

What do people really value in corporate life?

In corporate life, in life in general, people value straightforwardness. It’s remarkable how many people faff and resort to inaction because of a combination of nerves and laziness. If you can transcend this, you’ll be an incredibly valuable employee.

There’s also something to be said about making your boss’ life easier (assuming you don’t have the type of boss mentioned earlier). If you can become the person that doesn’t need a boss, you’ll be invaluable.

But ultimately, if you can become the type of person that can speak to people and get on with people, you’ll breeze it. Importantly, one must do this with integrity (not through sycophantism). If you can get along with people by telling the truth and through your ethical conduct, corporate life won’t feel like a chore.

Epilogue - The Social (and why it’s important for sycophants, especially booze).

We are social creatures after all. If you can sit down with someone after a day’s work and have a drink, you’ll be valuable. Corporate life is tainted with convention that you must follow. At a pub, the rules are more relaxed. Try building a genuine connection with someone - not through sycophantism - but by asking them genuinely about their life. Ask about what bothers them. Ask about how their family are. They’ll appreciate it.