The Need to Please

One of the things that I absolutely abhor at the workplace is the "need to please" or "need to market" syndrome. It may not be relevant just to the place where one works but extends beyond to our personal lives too as far as I am concerned. But for the sake of this post I will stick to the workplace.

While my dislike for people who do everything in their power to please the boss, stems from the fact that I do not consider myself as an ambitious individual, I still am unable to fathom as to why being a "yes man" to your boss is such a "in demand" skill these days to grow in ones career. I have lost count of the number of instances where promotions are given to people who are sometimes unfit for a certain job but are nevertheless given priority because of their ability to please the boss. It is often spun as the individual having shown "leadership" qualities (another corporate word I absolutely detest).

The fault also to a certain extent lies in the folks who are in roles of a "boss". Everyone has his or her own "inner circle" or "coterie" and I guess they get a sense of I don't know what "superiority" maybe when they see a band of willing to please yes men who would do anything they want them to do? I don't know and I guess I never will.