Personality: Can it Hold You Back in The Office?

[Informed Investor]

What do you think?

[devineone]

 Hi II

This question is a little broad.  Could you be more specific and name what type of personalities could possibly hold you back in the office? That way I could have more information before I share my thoughts on your topic.  We all have personalities.

[MzSheel]

II, of course your personality can either position you to move up or hold you back in a corporate or office environment.  Being too shy and never speaking up, being rude and short-tempered, etc., can have a detrimental effect on one's ability to move up.

[Ndgo]

With some jobs, you have to reflect what they want to see... transforming yourself into that moldable corporate image.

Othertimes, it's better to switch to a place of employment that recognises your natural gifts and rewards the personality type that you naturally are. Now THAT's the hard part... finding that match.  It's almost like the search for the holy grail in this economy.

I am so sick of corporate life... I came so close to switching over to self-employment... that's how you make sure your own god-given gifts get recognized and rewarded... Hire YOURSELF... in the meantime though... become a mirror... sad but true.

[Bambi eyes]

I've worked in Broadcasting, Consulting and Banking...

All I can say is quiet people don't get very far in Broadcasting... Lazy,slink in around 10 and leave at five of five people don't get very far in Consulting, and silly, unfocused people don't get very far in Banking.  Your type has to fit the business wherever you are or you will not thrive there.  Generally I think people warm up to and like outgoing, life of the party friendly types more in any office.  If you have these qualities you generally don't suffer too much.

[Informed Investor]

I wasn't specific on purpose! I think all personalities can potentially hold a person back in an office. What made me bring this up was a conversation I had yesterday with an intern. He actually dropped it on me "You know I believe personality has held people back in this office". I thought about it and all I could say was damn there is some truth to that. All I could think of was a coworker I had who just left. She took her salary from $60,000- $110,000 in an extremly short time span but the negative thing was she was somewhat of an azz kisser. I think the majority of the people in here aren't kissing any azz haha. In here they try to mold you to be this great leader and when you disagree with them you are azzed out. Isn't this a contradiction? A great leader in my opinion isn't kissing any azzes.

[mochagirl1]

I do think personality can either propel a person forward or hold them back.  I agree with everyone here, quiet and docile people definitely don't do well in corporate culture.  There's too much office politics, scapegoating, and blame going on.  If a person doesn't possess the strength of character to stand up for themselves, take credit for projects, etc., they get passed over for promotions.  While you don't have to be an azz kisser or a total jerk, you have to be willing to see things as they really are and run with it.  People who are too trusting and talk too much to the wrong people definitely can't be in industries like banking.  Heck, even an office job might prove a danger.  I've had friends I know trust everything managers and co-workers said, tell them everything and then be hurt and confused when they do something hurtful to them or use information against them. 

I once had an internship where the company was awful.  They were too cheap to hire a consultant to design a program for them, so they lured me into it and got me to do it.  I noticed all kinds of mismanagement going on, deadlines that weren't met, etc.  I'd tell the management team and trusted they would take care of the problems, especially after they would assure me everything would be looked at and taken care of.  But they ended up pointing fingers at me after some kind of snag that happened that didn't involve me in anyway.  I was really young at the time and didn't speak up for myself.  I let the directors run all over me.  Needless to say, I left that internship with a bitter taste in my mouth.  I had to learn to stand up for myself and not to take on any kind of job that had "failure" written all over it.

[tigerlilly]

definitely.   talk too much & get too friendly with people and you get stabbed.  Don't say much or keep to yourself you're not a team player.  Disagree with or piss off the wrong person and you are history.

[Susa]

I am so sick of corporate life... I came so close to switching over to self-employment... that's how you make sure your own god-given gifts get recognized and rewarded... Hire YOURSELF... in the meantime though... become a mirror... sad but true.

I Corporate America you have to mold to the company; when self-employed you have to mold to your customers (if you want to keep them). You can never be your "real self".