Business life is too short, the stakes are too high, and there’s so much on everyone’s plate. We don’t have time for pundits who are full of it (or even half full.)

The pundit and the professor both deserve a bronx cheer. (And maybe a highway salute.)

The way it ended up being presented though, is that it’s ok to be a jerk because as long as you win people want to be associated with you. After writing an entire book about half-truths, I don’t understand why Pfeffer didn’t see that he was addressing two extremes, neither of which is good workplace behavior.

I don’t see anything wrong with, for instance, Ferrazzi’s desire to dine with the CEO as part of his hiring package. It’s a smart move to pick the brains of smart people, although admittedly Ferrazzi comes across as just wanting face time so he could get promoted. I think he’s right that you should associate with people that will help your career. I would rather spend time with business people learning and asking questions and networking than with some of my less-than-ambitious college buddies that just want to go drink beer. But Ferrazzi doesn’t address the fact that at work, you don’t know where people will end up – especially when you and your co-workers are young. Addressing everyone with a basic level of respect and helpfullness pays off in the long-term and makes for a better work environment.

Here’s some advice of a very different sort: Ambition and Opportunism.

In real business organizations, it does matter what people think of you. And the “As, Bs, and Cs” are not always who you think they are.

In either case, each person has to live with the consequences of their own actions.

I’ve enclosed a link to an article published yesterday by Harvard in their Working Knowledge newsletter: “LBJ’s Deliberate March for Power” http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=5332&t=bizhistory&wkrss=y
It summarizes LBJ’s thirst and accumulation of power through sycophancy.