6 truths they don't tell you about Corporate Working

Here are 6 sweet & brutal truths that no one tells you about corporate work culture. This will specifically benefit new, honest & hardworking employees who do not understand (South Asian organizations') corporate game. They either take too long to understand the backdrop which delays their initial career or break down & are forced to leave their dream jobs because of frustration. 

Do not worry you folks, just understand the below simple points & identify them early enough to be smart enough to deal with it. 

1. You are super intelligent? Well, my dear friend in a capitalist, bureaucratic, revenue making organization your intelligence is of any value only when you can either add a good proportion of revenue or save costs for them which above all must be noticeable. Otherwise, your intelligent idea will be taken away by your boss & your intelligence will merely be a case study. Also, for intelligent employees, such organizations are not the right place to be in. If you are a solution provider you must be in a one-to-one solution providing consulting company. Pick your roles wisely. Intelligence is just an adjective. It doesn't get you a promotion. If you are intelligent + vocal & know how to broadcast your work, only then you can be open to all organizational set ups. 

2. Diplomacy gives you a raise, they don't need your individuality. You have a POV, well great but put it forth in a meeting only if your boss or your colleagues are willing to accept it or you shall be declared an outlier, someone who always pokes, someone who always brings ideas on table which adds on to work or if your POV negates POV of any other person (how much ever business effective it might be), please refrain from sharing. Very few managers/teams accept such people. Otherwise such employees are declared "non-collaborative". It's diplomacy & the smartness of landing your points that will let you keep going. 

3. 3 Ps of your Promotion are Performance, Performance & Performance. Remember the above points, no one cares how intelligent you are, how smartly you work, how many leaders you have produced, all that your boss or company bothers about is where in the performance curve do you fit. Companies only care about top line from you & even if you breach their ethics in slight ways, until not detected the company will turn itself blinded & let you do whatever you want to, since you are a top performer. So, your amazing performance will get you lots of joy initially & in the mid run. You can opt for this route & stop when you have earned your medal, reached that hierarchical position that you wanted to. But until then keep running in the race of top performance. 

4. Got good looks? Great, this does matter. If you are not dressing well & appropriately, you are doing a big mistake. You must always be in the books of a "Presentable employee" for you to get a client facing role or any good visible role for that matter. Good looks is always a brownie. If you have play it up, if you don't, make it up. 

5. You need to have allies, the more your ally is powerful, the better it is. Yes, office set ups are not for lifelong friendships or brotherhoods but you must smartly find your ally & time & again keep changing them basis your role & profile. The best ally can be your boss only if you have boss management skills. Otherwise find someone else whom you can use to get your work done or someone who can speak positive about you. Hardly anyone will but if you present yourself as a colleague & not a threat people will not always speak bad about you. 

6. They can find ample reasons to not promote you but they'll create any reason to justify your raise. This reason will be created by them only if you are popular, a performer, a presenter & personal favorite of your boss or super boss. 

Hope the above helps!