The Rules of Work

part.
• Speak of “we.” Don’t talk of “I” and refer every problem
back to how it affects you—“I can’t work through my
lunch break, I’m entitled to my hour off”—instead of
“We” and seeing things from the company’s point of view,
what’s best for the whole organization—“We need to pull
together here. I’m happy to work through the lunch break
to help us get this problem solved.”
• Talk about the business. If you talk about what you
watched on TV last night and where you are going on
vacation and what you are going to do over the weekend,
you come across as more lightweight—and thus junior—
than if you talk about company issues, what your
department’s plans are for the future, how the rise in
interest rates is going to affect business over the next few
months, and what you are going to do about exchange
rates and the euro.

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Basically, what you have to do is get people to recognize you
as a heavyweight and not a lightweight. Be serious, mature,
grown-up, and adult. This doesn’t mean you have to be a geek,
a nerd, a goody-goody, or a bore. You can still take a joke,
enjoy a laugh, smile, be lighthearted and jovial, be fun and full
of beans. You need to project a mature but fun image. You
need to make people aware that you
• Know the job
• Are experienced
• Are serious
• Are reliable and responsible
• Are trustworthy
• Are the job you want to be
So, take to sauntering around the place looking suave and cool
and being very stylish and grown-up, make the appropriate
noises and make sure that when you get offered the job you
are after, you can already do it.
R U L E   7 8
183
H A V E A P L A N
B E   S E R I O U S ,   M AT U R E ,
G R OW N - U P ,   A N D   A D U LT.

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Prepare for the Step After Next
R U L E   7 9
184
T H E R U L E S O F W O R K
Sorry, but you can’t coast. You are a Rules Player now, and you
must stick with it—no days off, no rests, no breaks, no putting
your feet up drinking coffee and staring into space. Back to
the grindstone. So, you’ve got your eye on the next step, the
next job. Fine, good. But what about after that? What’s your
next step? What’s your next target? 
Even before you’ve got your next promotion, you should
already be practicing for the next step. Because if you aren’t
getting ready now, when will you be? There is always an
opportunity to miss a step out, to skip over a promotion if you
play this game well. I’m not suggesting this should always be
your aim, but be prepared just in case it happens.
Of course, you have your long- and short-term plans—so you
will have plotted your career path and know the steps you
have to take on your great journey. Even now you will be get-
ting people to assume you have already made the next step,
acting the part of the next step, walking your walk, and talk-
ing as if you were already the boss, but it doesn’t hurt to start
practicing for the step after that. 
Letting people see that you are officer material is no bad thing.
Once people get in the habit of assuming you are a high flier,
you become one. If you dress down, talk trivia, don’t pull your
weight, and act like you are a drudge or a drone, you will get
accepted as that—and stay right where you are. 

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Look around the office. Can you spot the drudges and the
drones? The worker ants? The plodders and the sloggers? 
Now look again and spot the high fliers, the heavyweights, the
go-getters, the live wires. Can you see the difference? Can you
see what you have to do? Can you see how acting the part
makes you that part? Can you? Can you?
Whatever step you are preparing for, make sure that every-
thing you do is genuine, real, and worthwhile. I once worked
with a young man who was a high flier. He was preparing for
his next step. He took to coming to work carrying a briefcase
when none of his colleagues did—none of us needed one.
Trouble is Ray’s briefcase fell open one day and revealed to the
entire world that all it contained was his sandwiches, a news-
paper and a set of keys. It was humiliating for him,
embarrassing for us, and sad for everyone. Make sure your
briefcase is full of real stuff just in case this—or anything like
it—happens to you.
R U L E   7 9
185
H A V E A P L A N
O N C E   P E O P L E   G E T   I N  
T H E   H A B I T   O F   A SS U M I N G
YO U   A R E   A   H I G H   F L I E R ,  
YO U   B E C O M E   O N E .

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