Playing the Game

I have been reading Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business; because I did not what to inadvertently sabotage my career. I have been academia until just recently and I assumed the way things are done in industry are radically different than in academia. The main theme of the book is men play games; there are teammates and a coach, and the rules of the playing field are the rules of the business world. I have been involved with teams my whole life, drill teams, basketball teams, football teams, hockey teams and softball teams so the language of sports is very familiar with me. The book has been useful in reminding me that the coaches are always right.

Today I was in a meeting, where once again I was the only woman, and I noticed that the rules of the game in real life. I instigated the meeting because my authority was not being recognized and I needed a VP to remind the players that in this case I am the assistant coach. Now before you freak out and think I did not stand up for myself or played the tattletale, don’t worry I just gave these people enough rope that they could potential hang themselves and that is exactly what they did. I tried to tell them they were on that course but they choose to ignore me and they paid the price.

The main player (who needed a lesson) had already been schooled for an entire hour in front of a whole room of people when he decided to do something that was not allowed by our company. Now by no means are all the rules and regulations in our organization reasonable for every situation but they are there for reasons, some of them just establishing corporate philosophy and practices from the top down and this was the case. The VP in the meeting told him to stop what he was doing 3 TIMES and his director told him to stop too but he kept going. Now even as opinionated and outspoken as I am, and I am 2 steps higher on the corporate ladder than this guy, if a VP tells me to jump I say how high, even if it is not my VP. Instead of groveling and apologizing this guy started defending himself, and the VP was upset! I was just a witness and my heart was pounding and I was sweating. The tension in the room was intense. I expected the guy to get fired on the spot, he didn’t. This is where when the coach tells you to run the ball you don’t pass, especially 3 times in a row. I wonder how much longer this guy is going to be on the team. I know he is going to be on the bench for many seasons to come.