This article is purely dedicated to all my observations in the corporate world. In the workplace, you come across so many different people. Although for some industries good looks will open more doors more often than not, it’s one’s charm and their relationship towards other people that matters in business.
Manila is one society that relies heavily on trusted relationships in order to do business. The business relationships are built on trust; longevity and performance on the job, the friendship and camaraderie follow soon as time goes by. At times a bit of nepotism can be obvious but in the end any relative of the boss is still expected to deliver results.
Having mentioned that above. It’s obvious that most business veterans, successful business men, politicians, people in showbiz etc. stand out in their fields of expertise by building on those relationships. However you still have to deal with the young upstarts whose motto comes from Gordon Gekko (from the movie Wall Street), who said “Greed is good.”
They are pushy and they are aggressive and they think they are dynamic, but they lack the necessary social skills to close a deal. In other words they look good on paper but they end up stuck in a middle management job for rears instead of moving forward. Ever wonder sometimes how a charming person makes there way to the top faster than the summa cum laude whose face is buried in the computer screen.
A friend of mine was telling me how at one time she had three people pitching a project to her. One guy had a scowl on his face the whole time and seemed irritated at actually having to be there, the other man was pleasant charming and carefully chose his words to fit the occasion while engaging in pleasant small talk, the last one was a woman neatly dressed, no make up and very push—writing notes and pushing products at my friend the whole time without glancing from her note book.