The Way of the Wall Street Warrior

CHAPTER 17The Minion-Circle: Find Your Master's Master

So you've managed to weasel your way through the door and toiled away doing all the basics to keep your job and stand out. Hopefully, you've picked up a few tricks and tactics from me and are ready to put them into action. But before you go all Tess McGill,¹ let's cover a few more.

By now you've realized that unless you're an aspiring author writing a zombie-theme romance novel for young adults in Hell, Michigan, you'll need to figure out how to work with other people to climb the proverbial corporate ladder.

As an aside, I've always wondered where this stupid term comes from. No one knows, but before the actual ladder was invented, I'm sure we used poles or just sat on each other's heads. So be grateful someone invented the phrase corporate ladder; otherwise, you'd say, “I'm climbing up the pole” or “Striving to sit on face,” both of which could be mistaken for another of your favorite pastimes.

Your Master's Master

I've already stressed the importance of getting the lay of the land by studying your company's org chart and its shadow org chart to understand your company's different departments. Equally important is knowing who works for whom. Every well-structured company has a limit on direct reports, usually less than a dozen, so by working from the top down, you can figure out who lords over whom. Use your smarts to identify the seats of power, which aren't always in the corner offices. In fact, it's usually the ...