I once worked with someone who openly admitted to seeking success early on in their career by figuratively climbing over the fallen bodies of co-workers. In fact it was not so much an admission as a boast.
I found this disturbing at the time although it was only a few years later as I saw similar behaviour that I could rationalise very ambitious behaviour and understand it better. It seems to place the individual concerned at the centre of everything, so treading on a few innocents on the way up is acceptable and even desirable behaviour. The ends justify the means.
And it seems that such a ruthless attitude coupled perhaps with keeping in with the right people is a recipe for success at least in terms of that individual climbing the corporate ladder. However if all of your top managers think like that every board meeting would be a battle with blood on the floor. Ambition is I think on balance a good thing but coupled with arrogance and disrespectful behaviour is likely to be destructive. It certainly does not encourage team working.
It comes down to how each of us wants to work and to behave and what are priorities truly are. I can't help suspecting that this sort of "successful" person may not be the best thing for an organisation in the long run. I remember somebody once saying that the reason England has a constitutional monarchy was because we never wanted another Oliver Cromwell!
I found this disturbing at the time although it was only a few years later as I saw similar behaviour that I could rationalise very ambitious behaviour and understand it better. It seems to place the individual concerned at the centre of everything, so treading on a few innocents on the way up is acceptable and even desirable behaviour. The ends justify the means.
And it seems that such a ruthless attitude coupled perhaps with keeping in with the right people is a recipe for success at least in terms of that individual climbing the corporate ladder. However if all of your top managers think like that every board meeting would be a battle with blood on the floor. Ambition is I think on balance a good thing but coupled with arrogance and disrespectful behaviour is likely to be destructive. It certainly does not encourage team working.
It comes down to how each of us wants to work and to behave and what are priorities truly are. I can't help suspecting that this sort of "successful" person may not be the best thing for an organisation in the long run. I remember somebody once saying that the reason England has a constitutional monarchy was because we never wanted another Oliver Cromwell!
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