The Way of the Wall Street Warrior

CHAPTER 7Grownups Ask for Directions: Map the Salt Mine

Now that you've been hired, you need to know how to excel at doing the required work. But before I get into the ins and outs of elbowing your way up the corporate ladder, you have to start with perfecting the basic rules of the game. I get that you want to hear more tricks of the trade and how to stop some jerk from getting the job you're pining for, but first you must map the salt mine you're about to enter.

The importance of getting oriented prior to planning, then executing, your attack is, of course, not original. Over 2000 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote about it in The Art of War, where he underscored cunning strategies to win battles and manage conflicts. He cautioned his readers to know your enemy as you know yourself. In the case of corporate combat, this consists of all the forces working against you as you try to get ahead in your career, beginning with the person in the next cubbie and moving on to the managing director in the corner office who you can't stand. Sun Tzu admonishes, “Those who do not know the lay of the land cannot maneuver their forces.” So before you act, scope the battlefield. To me, that meant being the first person to know where both the bathroom and boardroom were the moment I walked into the office.

Map Your Way to Greatness

Many people enter employment without having a clue as to how job progression really works within their company. They start work barely knowing what their own job really ...