Ian had that hungry look of the ruthlessly ambitious. The smile, the charm , the innocent,”who me”. Too late his victims spotted the danger. The extremely ambitious often present them selves as not ambitious at all but as just wanting to do the job well. They are not to be trusted, they will conspire against you. It’s not personal it’s ambition and you are just a stepping stone on their way to the top . They are prepared to do what ever it takes whilst all the time smiling to your face but undermine you behind your back.
Malcom got the top job by stabbing his boss in the back, it made him paranoid that someone would do the same to him. And yet he had no qualms about using Ian, a ruthlessly ambitious young manager, to get ride of a troublesome senior manager. Did he assume the young pretender would stop there or that they would be satisfied to wait till the old master was ready to go? If so he failed to recognise the impatience of the ruthlessly ambitious. Ironically what he feared most he brought on himself.
The corporate world can be an unpleasant and unhappy place to work when there are those who view the only way to get on is at the expense of putting someone else down, when colleagues are viewed as competitors rather than team mates.
If you find out in time you can do something about it. Be careful what you say in their presence. So If you are tipped off by a colleague that someone is bad mouthing you, encouraging you to enter into gossip about your boss then repeating your comments you know to be careful what you say in front of them. You can contradict the gossip if you know what has been said. You could share your concerns with your boss but that could be tricky if what was reaped was what you said all be it in confidence.
After all we all moan about our boss on occasions. If you do have a beef with your boss better to have it out with them in private because then the backstabbers have no ammunition. You could have a word with the individual let them know that it has got back to you what they have been saying. They will probably deny it but there is some satisfaction in letting them know you’re on to them.
In politics they refer to people being briefed against. The target often knows who is behind it but they are not doing it themselves their supporters do it on their behalf. If challenged the individual denies all knowledge or claims it is is misguided supporters acting with out his knowledge or consent. The best way to deal with this is to have your allies not only to tell you what is being said but to challenge it on your behalf.
Ultimately this sort of behaviour only happens in an environment of mistrust were managers particularly senior managers are willing to listen or even encourage this this undermining of colleagues, negativity and malicious gossip. Don’t rush into anything but do you really want to work in such a toxic environment?
