Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's

Competition (healthy and unhealthy) is among the driving forces of our society. I recall more a decade ago my promotion to program manager at Siemens Corporate Research, Princeton, NJ, USA. It came with a single person office, an important salary raise and a two days seminar where communication/management experts explain to us what is the path to success. Well it seems that there are three classes of successful managers:

• The group of highly talented and gifted individuals who assume their decisions, have a vision and take the initiatives without caring about their short term outcome. Eventually there will be cases where things will not go as expected but eventually at some point hard work, leadership and charisma will pay out and this will happen independently on politics. Usually these are the people who will make the difference and take institutions to the next level.
• The second group of people who most likely endow their career with success are the ones working hard, delivering what was asked from them and being at the right place the right time. These are lower risk cases with respect to the first category since the outcome is predictable and bounded both on the positive as well as the negative side. These are the kind of people who will assume the job and most likely deliver what is expected from them while taking almost no risks.
• Well, the third category corresponds to people playing politics and use connections to make the difference. They are talented because despite the absence of charisma, vision and loyalty they are able to navigate and survive in critical situations and they actually just care for themselves. Their survival code consists on taking other colleague's credit and putting obstacles whenever they feel threatened to to whoever threatens them.

I guess all of us are almost certain that we are highly gifted and talented. However, I recall the expert's conclusion stating that we often cross people during our professional path who belong to the third category and suggesting to avoid working as much as you can while hoping that in your institution there are people with the willingness to Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.

 

ps. I was fortunate enough to work with collaborators coming from all aforementioned populations, a situation which strengthens your ability to appreciate people being loyal to their  task/job and not to themselves.