Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Playing With People: Office Space ... The Final Frontier

If you were to walk into any room, how would you know who the leader is? The gleam in their eyes? The fact that they are standing? Their snappy outfit? Not if my university professors had anything to do with it. No, the secret of discovering a leader’s identity is this: we always give leaders their space.

Want to toy with your leader a little? Play with that space. In fact, completely ignore it.

During a meeting sit as close as possible to the leader, move a chair if you have to. You will probably be looking directly up the leader’s nose, it’s a small price to pay. Don’t look down at your papers but enjoy a few minutes of closeness with the one in power. Watch their face intently and only look away to make a few important notes … they will think you are so attentive … a little strange … but eager to climb that corporate ladder!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only thing that I would be thinking is "Get away from me"

Anonymous said...

That's just rude. Didn't your mommy ever teach you to be considerate of others?

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm... personal space... that certainly could be fun... I sat on the president's right hand today... does that count? I couldn't see directly up his nose, but I was the closest in proximity to him.

I don't think it really helped me any though... I didn't get any promotions.

Next time...

Anonymous said...

The first will be last and the last ...
I hate people getting in my space. I think it comes from growing up with no personal space. There's a blog for you Cara. How needs for personal space change with age and ages. The older I get the more I need. But years ago when the houses were smaller, we barely had any personal space. Our living room was a 10 by 12 space, smaller than more bedrooms today and we often had 10 people in there watching tv.
Now people have 4000 sq ft homes for 4 people...or less. Wild.

Anonymous said...

To Ms Polite(who apparently has no real name): Saying it to the person would be rude...thinking it is controlled behaviour because I do not like people getting in my personal space especially when brown nosing....That person would have to get comfortable on the bottom step of the ladder...