Rules of Work, 5th Edition

RULE 104

Make the opposition seem irreplaceable

We have looked at why you can’t indulge in any back-stabbing – Rule 101: Don’t back-stab – and you know you can’t say anything bad about anyone, but all the same, one of the competition is getting in a bit too close with the boss and it looks like that promotion might just go their way. What do you do? You make them seem irreplaceable, of course. But you do it by pointing out all the important but mundane jobs they do. You point out their strengths to your boss in the boring, humdrum areas: ‘God, I don’t know what we’d do without Leah to do the filing. She must be a Virgo, she’s so good at that sort of stuff.’ But you are only going to point out things that your rival is genuinely good at. We are ...