Corporate Neanderthals -- Office Politics Driving You Crazy? -- A New Book Offers Help In Taming The Beast

The following is an original article drawn in substantial portion from "Neanderthals at Work: How People and Politics Can Drive You Crazy - And What You Can Do About Them." Written by Albert J. Bernstein, Ph.D., and Sydney Craft Rozen. Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, N.Y.

OUR FIRST BOOK, "DINOSAUR BRAINS," showed how to deal with impossible people and irrational behavior at the office. "Neanderthals at Work" moves up a few rungs on the corporate evolutionary ladder to explore more subtle difficulties - the snares and traps that can make you wonder whether your workplace has taken a time trip back to the Neanderthal Age.

How else can you explain that the rules people play by are never the ones written down? Or that the most savage competitors get all the big raises and promotions, while other people never seem to get ahead, no matter how hard or conscientiously they work? Why do some of the most creative people feel like outsiders, even though they're the ones called in to lead the rescue when a crisis comes up in their department?

Why does the thinking around your office seem so rigid? Why does conflict flare so easily and cooperation seem so difficult? Why do the people you work with sometimes seem like a clan of cave men, with their tiny brains and uncivilized approach to the job?

Maybe it really isn't the people themselves who drive you crazy, but their attitudes and personalities. Either you don't

understand them, or they don't understand you. Or both. (Usually both.)

The problem stems from dividing the world into "Us" and "Them." That's really Neanderthal thinking. When people do things you don't understand or agree with, it's easy to assume there's something wrong with them. Maybe you huddle together with members of your own group and complain about the Neanderthals down the hall (or use other, less printable names reserved for people who are not like you). Or joke about them. Or plot against them. They don't do what you do; they don't believe what you do; they don't think the way you do. Sometimes you wonder if they even think at all.

REBELS, BELIEVERS AND COMPETITORS

From research in the Seattle and Portland areas and across the country, we have identified three basic personality types that can be found in every company: Those who know what the real rules are and play politics by those rules; those who think they know what the right rules are but are missing something important; and those who refuse to play by anybody else's rules at all.

These three types are our own invention, but they have a firm psychological base. We call them Rebels, Believers and Competitors. Each group wants and expects different rewards from the job. Each is motivated by different values, and each is willing to defend its beliefs against attacks. Each sees the others as Neanderthals at work.

-- Rebels' imagination, creativity and smarts make them indispensable to most companies, but they drive their bosses crazy with their disdain for authority. (Most bosses drive Rebels crazy with their office politics and stuffed-shirt mentality.)

-- Believers, the original corporate innocents, stand firm in their faith that hard work and playing by the rules will pay off. It drives them crazy when the rewards don't come. Believers' naivete and obsession with rules drive their bosses crazy - but most bosses know that, without Believers, American business would flat-out collapse.

-- Competitors play to win. They are the warriors who make the deals, chair the meetings and keep their eyes on the bottom line. They play the corporate game as if they were born knowing all the rules. It drives Competitors crazy when people don't understand The System as well as they do. To Rebels and Believers, Competitors can seem the ultimate Neanderthals, brutish and insensitive beneath their pinstripes.

THE SEATTLE BUSINESS STYLE

Everyone has elements of the Rebel, Believer and Competitor personalities within him or her, but most of us identify more fully with one type than the others. My writing partner, Al Bernstein, and I each have strong Believer and Competitor aspects that kick in when we need them, but in our hearts, we know we're Rebels.

We like to work alone.

Each of us left jobs in traditional settings - he in state government bureaucracy; I in academia. Al runs his psychological counseling and business consulting practices from an office in a renovated house in Vancouver, Wash. I am the managing editor (and cleaning woman) of Midnight Writer Editing Services, my one-person business based in my home in Bothell. We meet in person only twice a year; the rest of the time, we collaborate by phone and overnight mail.

As a Rebel entrepreneur, I can set my own office hours (from whenever I've read my morning paper to 3 p.m., when my kids come home from school; then back to the word processor from 9:30 p.m. to beyond midnight on deadline weeks). I also follow a strict dress code: jeans and snazzy sweaters. (There is, however, a chic red Competitor suit in my closet, for meeting clients and speaking in public.)

I recognize my Rebel idiosyncrasies and have used them to create a career I love. Yet I could not survive professionally if I did not understand and respect the value of the Competitors, Believers and Rebels with whom I do business.

For example, like many Rebels, I'm not good at talking about money. So when it's time to negotiate a book contract, I call my literary agent, Elizabeth Wales, of Seattle-based Levant and Wales. Elizabeth personifies what I consider the Seattle Business Style: a blend of Rebel, Believer and Competitor attitudes that accepts and tolerates other personality types - and still takes care of business. She and I might spend 10 minutes of a business call commiserating, in true Believer fashion, over the latest perils of modern motherhood. But when it's time to call my publisher in New York, she knows how to get the big guys to sign on the dotted line.

Why do YOU need to know about the three personality types? Because you work with them every day. Until you learn to figure them out, you're not doing your job. No matter who you are or where you stand in the company, you cannot be effective (sometimes you can't even survive) in corporate life - in Seattle or anywhere else - without understanding and learning to deal with these patterns of thought and behavior in the people you work with - and in yourself.

THE REBELS: BREAKING ALL THE RULES - CREATIVELY

From the day he was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee until he fell at the Alamo, Davy Crockett was his own man. Out in the wilderness, there were no fences, no rules and no bosses to tell you what to do. In the early 1800s, the American frontier was full of danger: wild animals, hostile tribes, river pirates or just the weather. Whatever trouble you encountered, Davy was the kind of guy you'd want on your side.

He made a brief and not totally successful sojourn into politics. He never did understand that people didn't take congressmen who carry rifles totally seriously. Anyway, that was THEIR problem. Let THEM try to filibuster a hungry bear.

America was founded by a rebellion. You wouldn't catch heroic Rebels like Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone brown-nosing the CEO. Of course, they probably couldn't hold down a job in your company, either. But if the enemy attacked or your cabin was burning, they'd be the guys you'd want on your team.

The Rebel personality is maverick, irreverent and often maddening, but also creative, bright and cool-headed. The challenge in working with Rebels lies in dealing with their independence and resistance to authority, while recognizing and seeing their professional value.

Rebels are good to have around. They're often terrific at handling emergencies or crises. If you look at the Seattle area's typical police, fire department or emergency room, flight maintenance crew, mental-health center or any group that deals with crisis, you'll find an extremely high number of Rebels successfully handling the dangerous or high-stress parts of their jobs. (They're probably behind in their paperwork, though.)

The Rebels' strong suit is creativity; they have a knack for looking at situations in unusual ways. Check out the biographies of the world's most creative people; you'll find few Believers or Competitors among them. Many of these artists and inventors died penniless because of their lack of business sense, but some Rebels made it big. At the top of the local list, of course, is Bill Gates, the Seattle area's Rebel extraordinaire: college dropout, founder and billionaire chairman of Microsoft, the world's largest computer software company.

Most Rebels are far from lazy. Most of them will work their tails off, but their hard work will involve doing the parts of their jobs that they like or that come easily for them, not necessarily what is required or rewarded.

The same qualities that make Rebels creative and good at crises - their independence, lack of subtlety, love of excitement and impulsiveness - can make them seem like bad employees. They aren't - if you don't demand reverence, and if you use clear, consistent rules and forget about the motivational talks.

THE REBEL INSIDE EACH OF US

Everyone, no matter what your job or level of management, has unresolved aspects of this Rebel attitude within - a Rebel inside. It's the part that tells you to avoid the things at work that you don't want to do, and then comes up with reasons that you don't really have to do them. As you move up the ladder, it's easier to cover up the fact that you're avoiding certain tasks. Adopting a management style that gets you out of doing things you don't like to do is the Rebel's way.

In managing, more than in any other kind of job, the demands are vague and the temptations are strongest to define the job in terms of what you like to do, rather than what is most important. The Rebel inside many managers and other professionals often tries to avoid the Three P's: paperwork problems, policy/procedure problems, and people problems. Unfortunately, the unresolved issues nearly always come back.

THE BELIEVERS: CORPORATE INNOCENTS

Sir Thomas More was a man for all seasons, an idealist, author of "Utopia," friend and adviser to Henry VIII - that is, until he stood on his Catholic principles and refused to sign the 1534 Act of Supremacy, which would have helped Henry to engineer his hostile takeover of the English Church from the pope and, conveniently, to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

Though he could have had power, wealth and influence at the king's side, More lost his head rather than compromise his principles. This is what being a Believer is all about.

We suppose you could say that More had the last laugh 400 years later, when he was made a saint.

Sir Thomas More's willingness literally to give his life for his principles gives him patron-saint status among the Believers, whose brown lunch bags hold more than just tuna sandwiches; they also carry a tradition of hard work and powerful ideals.

Believers place their trust in the great principle of the business world, the Work Ethic: Work hard, do a good job, follow the rules, and you'll be rewarded.

Most of the time Believers don't talk about their moral code; they just live by it and, all too often, get clobbered for doing so. Think Chuck Knox, former Seattle Seahawks football coach, whose Believer style and philosophy differed from his Competitor bosses, Tom Flores and Seahawks owner Ken Behring. With true Competitor chutzpah, Flores appointed himself as Knox's replacement - AND kept his power as team president.

Many Believers are self-motivators who find a genuine sense of accomplishment in the hard work they do. These internal rewards are real and important, but few modern Believers are willing to wait 400 years to be canonized and appreciated. They'd like to see something now that recognizes and rewards their value to the company. A raise would be nice. Or a promotion. Heaven knows, they've earned it.

Believers don't realize that, in business, the real rewards go to those who know what to work hard at. The people who get the raises and promotions are the people who understand The System - the unwritten rules about how things get done. Most of these people work hard, too, but they also do something else, which Believers don't approve of. That "something" nearly always means playing politics, which, to many Believers, ranks right up there with signing the 1534 Act of Supremacy.

Until they accept that office politics is part of the job, most Believers won't get the big raises or promotions they deserve. Some, who refuse to play the game, may burn out from anger and resentment. Others will pick up on the challenge and begin to learn what they don't know. They will come to realize that politics is hard work, and a kind of work that they know nothing about. When they enter this jungle of secret rules and mysterious rituals, life at the office will never be the same again.

COMPETITORS AND THE CULT OF WINNING

Alexander the Great came to the Shrine of Gorda where, it was rumored, there was an enchanted and very complicated knot that would give the power to conquer the world to the person who had the skill to untie it.

The crowd hushed as Alexander approached the Gordian knot. They knew he was good - but was he good enough?

Scarcely glancing at the knot, Alexander simply drew his sword and hacked it to pieces.

Now was this guy a Competitor, or what?

It's a good thing that Believers have heaven, because Earth surely seems to belong to Competitors. The story of Alexander is a classic example of the Competitor's view of winning. Alexander is a winner, going for stakes higher than anyone else has dared. The sheer nobility of his quest puts him above the rules designed for mere mortals. Let the Believers try to untie the knot. People didn't call Alexander "the Great" for getting hung up on honor and rules. He had a job to get done.

Nobody loves a winner like a Competitor - especially winners who, like Alexander, ignore conventions in their quest for the Big Prize. Believers value the work it takes to win (they would have disqualified Alexander for breaking the rules), but Competitors value the winning itself. They see their world as a conflict, with the strongest emerging as the most successful, and success as its own justification. For Competitors, it's the winning, not how you play the game, that counts.

For example, in the complex battle over the future of the Seattle Mariners, only two hardball Competitors have emerged publicly: current Mariners owner Jeff Smulyan and power-deal-maker Sen. Slade Gorton. Smulyan's boyish charm turned to curt Competitor no-comments when the bottom line began to tilt toward Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

And while other public officials and Seattle civic leaders were, in true Believer fashion, accepting ambiguous financial pledges or writing outraged letters, Gorton was putting together the only real deal: a solid cash offer from Nintendo and other local investors to buy the team.

The unchecked drive to win can destroy. All too often, if you follow the news, you'll read about the collapse of an ultra-Competitor's financial empire. Winning makes some Competitors think they are superior and, like Alexander (at least in their own minds), exempt from the rules that other people have to follow. The Mariners ownership struggle illustrates an ominous message in the Cult of Winning. Tens of thousands of diehard Seattle baseball fans have had to face a painful reality: Believers often are powerless in a Battle of the Competitors.

THE COMPETITORS' 10 COMMANDMENTS

The Cult of Winning can blind Competitors to the point of view, or even the value, of people who haven't reached the upper level or who haven't embraced the creed that Winning Is Everything. To members of the cult, if you're not a winner, you're a loser.

Yet the reality of business is that nothing great was ever accomplished without the drive to win. To pursue Excellence and catch it, you need the Rebels' imagination, the Believers' motivation - and the Competitors' knowledge of The System.

Do YOU have what it takes to get ahead? Here is a guide to the Competitors' understanding of The System.

1. A COMPETITOR IS DECISIVE

To be decisive, a Competitor has to master the urge to run away or become immobilized. "I need more data" can be a disguised form of running away.

Give up trying to predict the future; you will never have all the information you need. To make a place for yourself as a Competitor, you have to be able to choose a road, then to follow it and to make whatever you decided become the right choice.

2. A COMPETITOR DOESN'T ASK FOR PERMISSION

In school, you had to raise your hand to get permission to do anything; there were rules, structures and grades. In the business world, if you have to ask, then somebody is probably going to tell you no, you can't do it.

Sometimes you have to be able to take action without anybody else's permission except your own. To do this, you will have to accept that not everybody will agree with what you do. (If you're smart, however, you'll learn whose approval is most important.)

3. A COMPETITOR LEARNS THE UNWRITTEN RULES

The Competitor's great skill is the ability to read and operate within The System. To be a Competitor, you must develop the ability to figure out the real rules - the unwritten ones. (The written rules are there usually as a showpiece so that Believers have something to believe in.)

What are the Ten Commandments where you work? ("What hast thou done for us lately?" usually makes the list.) In many companies, there aren't 10 commandments; there is only one: "I am thy bottom line. Thou shalt have no other priorities above me." Some companies reflect the Seattle Business Style enough to value qualities and behaviors above profitability, but even those will not allow you to lose money indefinitely.

4. A COMPETITOR MUST FACE DOWN THE FEAR OF FAILURE

"Go for that promotion? No way. I'd never get it anyway, so why put myself out there and risk getting shot down in front of everybody?"

Does this sound like you?

Believers would rather undervalue themselves than be disappointed. To be an effective Competitor, you need to know which decisions are important enough to warrant taking a risk.

5. A COMPETITOR MUST ABANDON THE NEED FOR PRAISE

Competitors don't believe in praise and especially don't see the need to praise other Competitors. Often they will not praise someone they particularly respect, because they think the person is like them and doesn't need positive reinforcement. What's more, Competitors might consider anyone who wants (or obviously enjoys) praise to be beneath their status and definitely not management material.

Consider it a compliment if your boss doesn't praise you. (If a Competitor does tell you you're doing a good job, this may be a signal that he doesn't think you're a real Competitor.)

Learn to rate your performance yourself. You need to know objectively where you stand among your fellow Competitors. Nobody can be completely objective, of course, but you need to have an accurate idea of your own strengths and weaknesses.

6. A COMPETITOR DOES IT NOW

Just do it. No procrastination. No excuses.

7. A COMPETITOR AVOIDS MARTYRDOM

Get rid of the notion that taking on more than your share of work is your way to the top.

It's all right to help other people out sometimes, but you'll never be rewarded for regularly doing the job for an incompetent boss or for protecting a sloppy colleague. (Of course, doing the occasional favor, if asked in advance, can be helpful to your career.) Even though you need to work hard, you definitely do not need to become a martyr.

8. A COMPETITOR IGNORES PERSONAL LIMITATIONS

Competitors learn they can do more than they thought they could. In the Competitor's world, heroism most often lies in working as many hours as it takes to get the job done - even if you're afraid or you don't want to or you don't think you can do it. You will surprise yourself at how much strength and endurance you actually have.

There also are heroic deeds you do for show. For most Competitors, that means putting in long hours. In the 1950s, Competitors were proud of their ulcers. In the '90s, the 60-hour week is the badge of honor. Hard work is not measurable or visible. Long hours are. Just make sure you concentrate on the blue-chip tasks.

9. A COMPETITOR ABANDONS FAMILY?

Abandon family? Not really - but sometimes it feels that way. It is almost impossible to have a responsible management position without putting in the long hours. This is what the "wife of the '50s" made possible for male Competitors with families. How many times have you heard two-career couples wail, "What we really need is a wife!"?

Being a two-career family implies a certain amount of equality. If that equality does not exist, or if the rules are unclear to one of the partners, sit down and talk. If you don't have a clear agreement on whose job-related responsibilities come first, and when, you'll probably soon be spending your family time and money on marriage counseling or attorney fees.

10. A COMPETITOR ABANDONS SELF-IMPORTANCE

As a Competitor, you always have to prove something. First in the early days, then after each major promotion, life is one initiation ritual after another. "Hell Week" seems to go on forever. Competitors are a very judgmental group. You have to show that you have what it takes.

To get into the group, you usually have to sacrifice your own self-importance. You will have to accept teasing, defer to other people's opinions and, most of all, to listen when you feel like speaking. The initiation is tough, but the prize is full membership as a Competitor.

Other survival strategies in Competitor territory:

-- Don't rely on your boss, your job description or your professional training to get you respect. You have to earn it yourself.

-- Show that you can listen. The best way to show deference to a group is to show interest. Listen to people. Ask about the way they do things. Ask for advice and take it.

-- Demonstrate that you can take teasing. Teasing, a common initiation procedure, occurs most often on shop floors, but it also happens in boardrooms. The style and content differ from company to company, but the purpose is the same. You have to show that you can take it and give it back. The less seriously you take yourself, the more quickly you'll be accepted.

-- Make allies. Do favors for people. Find out what they need from you and supply it if you can. Sell yourself. (Believers think this means selling out. It doesn't. Nobody advances without subtle self-promotion.)

-- Abandon your own way of doing things for the company way. Before you will be allowed to be creative, or to have a chance to do it your way, you first will have to demonstrate that you can play by the rules. The real rules.

Sydney Craft Rozen is managing editor of Midnight Writer Editing Services of Bothell. Rob Kemp is a Seattle Times news artist. FAMOUS REBELS: .

Bill Gates, founder and chairman, Microsoft .

Mike Lowry, former congressman .

Lynda Barry, cartoonist .

Nancy Donnellan "The Fabulous Sports Babe," KJR-Radio sports talk-show host

Aaron Brown former KIRO-TV anchor, now late-night network host for ABC .

Art Thiel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist .

K.C. Jones, former Sonics basketball coach .

YOU TEND TO THINK MOST LIKE A REBEL IF: .

-- You are creative and unconventional but feel bored with the day-to-day aspects of your job. .

-- You're superb in a crisis. .

-- You don't like being told what to do. .

-- Your boss thinks you have an "attitude problem." .

-- You haven't had a promotion since Wes Uhlman was mayor of Seattle. .

-- You believe promotions are rigged and management is part of one big conspiracy.

FAMOUS BELIEVERS: .

Tim Hill King County Executive .

Kathi Goertzen and Dan Lewis, KOMO-TV news anchors .

Jim French, KIRO-Radio "Midday" talk-show host .

Chuck Knox, former Seattle Seahawks coach .

Jim Lefebvre, former Mariners skipper (the ultimate Beliebvre)

.

The Kingdome (utilitarian and no sense of style) .

Ballard; may contain more Believers per city block than any other neighborhood in U.S.

YOU TEND TO HAVE DOMINANT BELIEVER QUALITIES IF: .

-- You are reliable, trustworthy and loyal; the office would be lost without you.

-- You are convinced that, if you work hard and play by the rules, you'll be rewarded.

-- You feel frustrated and unappreciated because the rewards haven't come.

-- You don't understand why people less qualified than you are getting promoted.

-- You think anyone who plays politics is a latte-addicted sleaze.

FAMOUS COMPETITORS: .

Sen. Slade Gorton .

William Gerberding, president, UW .

Jean Enersen, KING-TV news anchor.

Steve Raible, KIRO-TV sports anchor (nice guys sometimes finish first).

Don James, Husky football coach .

Tom Flores, Seahawks president and coach .

Pacific Northwest Ballet (can wow 'em in New York, too) .

Nordstrom (the Seattle Business style goes national).

YOU TEND TO HAVE THE INSTINCTS OF A COMPETITOR IF:

-- You know how to get things done.

-- You know what it takes to win (and were the first in your office to applaud the firing of K.C. Jones).

-- You know how to play politics and how to promote yourself and your company.

-- You spend most of your time with people above you in the hierarchy.

-- You tend to ignore people who aren't as savvy as you are.

-- The people below you are always complaining that you never