After spending several weeks of reviewing the business metrics, we determined a very focused strategy. More importantly, we focused on building small wins. Our motto was every order matters – we tried to make a lot of small, incremental improvement in customer experience, marketing messaging, cost control, team effectiveness, etc.

We implemented a team dashboard that took a metric driven approach to run our business. Every week we reviewed our performance and tried to do something to improve our business.

Little by little, the business started to improve. Six months later, we were growing at 4 times of the average industry growth.

The interesting part is that suppliers starts to contact us to give us more favorable terms. We’re getting calls from marketing agencies for lower rates in exchange for longer term contract. We’re getting more brand recognition.

Once we started making improvements and building momentum, it’s like a snowball that keep rolling. The key is to maintain the momentum, and ride the wave.

Do you feel stuck in your career or your personal life? I suggest you to start DOING small things to make incremental improvement to your situation. Once the snowball starts rolling, the momentum will eventually carry you to the finish line.

Give it a try. Momentum is magical.

However, I was re-reading Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger this weekend, and came across the poem “if” that Charlie Munger has always admired.

I agree wholeheartedly with Mr.. Munger – if you haven’t read this poem, please read it and let me know if you agree with me.

“If you can keep you head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise …

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch,

If neigher foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

–Excerpt from the poem “If,” by British author and poet Rudyard Kipling

At that time, I just started working as Associates Product Manager at a medium-sized enterprise software company. My job was to manage the Application Programming Interface (API) product. It was a highly technical product. Sales training was coming up. I was asked to write a training doc and train the technical sales guys.

I was highly motivated. I spent days to understand the product, interview developers, play with the API, and make several revisions.

My boss asked me to review the document with Karen. She was a senior product manager, a rising star on the team. She used to work as a developer at Oracle Corporation. According to my boss, she had the rare combination of marketing acumen and technical skills. She would be the perfect mentor for me.

I went to Karen, and asked her to review.

She said to me: "oh, can you please just email me a copy of the doc? I’m swamped with stuff right now, but I’ll definitely review it when I get a chance. Sales training is still a couple of weeks away."

I emailed her my document. A day passed. Two days passed. A week passed. I still didn’t hear anything back from her.

So, I went to her again: "hi, Karen, did you get a chance to review  my doc? I’d like to incorporate your feedback and prepare for my presentations."

"Oh. No worries. I’ll get to it. I’m really swamped now. Give me a few days."

I waited for a few more days. Still no feedback. There were only two days left!

I went to Karen again. "Hi, Karen. Sales training is in two days. I really need to get your feedback and get ready for my presentation."

"Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll take a look at it. And don’t worry about the sales training. I’ll take care of it." Karen said.

I was confused — wasn’t I supposed to get ready to present my document? I asked my boss. He told me to follow Karen’s lead. She would tell you what to do. She was great.

Since Karen was such a great product manager, I figured that I should follow her lead.

It’s day for the sales training. Karen came in early. She dressed with super short skirt. She had her full make-up on. In the elevator I ran into several sales guys. They were literally saying "Karen is so hot!".

Now, the sales training started. Karen just finished presenting her own product. Then, she pulled out printout of my document and said: "I know our API product is highly technical and difficult to understand. I have prepared a white paper to help you understand." She distributed the document and talked for half an hour.

I figured that she must have made some major changes to my document, so I grabbed a copy. To my surprise, she didn’t make a single change to the document except putting her name as the author of the document and removing my name.

Only in the end of her presentation, she briefly mentioned my name: "oh, sitting in the back is the newest member of our product management team. He would be managing the API product".

I had to admit that I was mad at this point. I wrote the entire document, and she didn’t even give me a chance to present. For two weeks, I was waiting for her feedback. Not only she never got back to me, she took all of the credits for the document.

I felt I was being robbed.

I went straight to my boss, and explained to him what’s happened.

"Oh, no. You’re being too sensitive. Karen is one of our best product managers. She will never do that to you. You’re a recent college graduate. You still have a lot to learn. Karen will be a great mentor to you."

No matter what I said, my boss insisted that Karen would never do that type of things. He kept saying how great Karen was.

I broke down. I cried. I was taught to be fair and honest. I could not believe how someone could take advantage of me like this. And I couldn’t understand why my boss didn’t believe me.

Later I had to attend the dinner with sales guys. When we walked into the restaurant, several sales guys rushed to sit next to Karen. By this time, she had changed her clothes, but as exposed as before.

Karen was popular. In fact, very popular. She knew how to use her image to get attention.

I’m going to stop telling the story now before someone starts calling a sexist.

Let me share with you a few lessons I learned from this experience.

1. Corporate environment is not a meritocracy. For a young, naive, inexperienced person like myself,  it was rude awakening. Some corporations might be better than others, but corporate politics is a fact that we all must face.
2. Instead of feeling frustrated and cynical about corporate politics, accept it as part of organizational life.  
3. Some people will use their appearance and charm to gain an advantage — in this story I used a female as an example because it was what happened to me. But, this is applicable to either male or female. It could be deceiving. They could gain an advantage. Don’t let that discourage you. Instead, maintain your integrity, do the right thing, and press on!
4. Sooner or later, you’ll be taken advantage by someone. My advice to you is to focus on the big picture. Don’t get bogged down by the political infightings.

Finally, but not lastly, for the past few years, whenever I encounter disappointing office politics, I’ve always reminded myself of a quote by Coach Krzyzewski:

""During critical periods, a leader is not allowed to feel sorry for himself, to be down, to be angry, or to be weak. Leaders must beat back these emotions."

If you want to be a leader, don’t get bogged by office politics!

Related posts:

• Too many managers, too few leaders
• Know enough technically to be dangerous
• Flow, career satisfaction and happiness

Recommended reading:

• I Hate People!: Kick Loose from the Overbearing and Underhanded Jerks at Work and Get What You Want Out of Your Job
• The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series)

When she runs into product managers, developers, and operational folks in the company, she always asks: "what have you done today for help my team?".

When someone asked why one of her accounts is generating $50,000 while costs the company $200,000 to support, her response is "Stop it. Nobody can suggest shutting down the account except me. Don’t even go there."

On a given day, Account Manager A complained to her that it takes him 2 hours to manually produce a monthly report. He needs a developer to automate the task. Account Manager B complained to her that his account asked for a new feature, but it was prioritized low in the product queue. Account Manager C complained that he needed developer to fix a small problem.

Rose didn’t think critically — she basically went to the product managers and VP of development– yelled at them and said that all of them must be done. She then went to the President of the company and escalate.

The Product Manager, VP of Development, and software developers are stressed, frustrated, and angry — there are a million things that needs to be done. But, there are also more strategically important stuff that needs to be done. Some of Rose’s requests are so trivial that it simply doesn’t justify to allocate any resource.

But, Rose doesn’t listen, and she doesn’t think critically. In fact, she has virtually zero understanding of the system her team is supporting. She thinks her job is to manage and remove every complaints/barriers her team members have raised.

This is just one example. I’ve seen this happen too often in almost every company.

We need more leaders. We need fewer micro-managing, incompetent, bullying managers.

A leader inspires ordinary people and achieves extraordinary results.

Related Posts:

• Fooled by Randomness, Start-up  and serial entrepreneur
• What if you have fix 17-year old Kobe Bryants on your team (And why you should never hire someone directly from McKinsey to Run your business.)
• Duke Blue Devil Jersey Number Three

Recommended reading:

• Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence
• On Becoming a Leader
• On Becoming a Leader
• The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan: How to Take Charge, Build Your Team, and Get Immediate Results

This weekend, Duke University men’s basketball team won another Atlantic Collegiate Conference (ACC) title. In case you’re not a college basketball fan, ACC is one of the most competitive conferences for college basketball. This is Duke’s first ACC title in threes years.

While I was watching Duke’s player celebrating their victory, I noticed something very interesting. Duke’s legendary Coach K brought his grandsons with him to cut the nets. Both of his grandsons wore Duke Jersey Number Three

Who wears jersey number three? Greg Paulus.

Greg Paulus is not a star on the Duke team. He was their starting point guard for 3 years, but lost his job to a freshman this season. But, he never complained, and played hard. He came off the bench and was the catalyst for several Duke wins this season. He was a leader.

I cannot confirm why Coach K’s grandsons wore Greg Paulus’ jersey. But, I wouldn’t be surprised that Coach K was teaching a lesson to his team and his grand kids — Greg Paulus might not be the best player on the team, but he is a great leader. A leader accepts his roles, sacrifices for his team, and focuses on contribution.

I’d like to share with you one of my favorites quotes from Coach K.: "During critical periods, a leader is not allowed to feel sorry for himself, to be down, to be angry, or to be weak. Leaders must beat back these emotions."

Are you allowing yourself to feel down, angry, or weak? Beat back these emotions. Press on!

If you like this post, you might also like

• Perseverance through adversity leads to success
• Are you down? depressed? frustrated? confused? tired? purposeless? – Watch this video and you’ll be inspired!