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Business Rules #11:
Take Credit, Even When
It's Not Due.
November 19, 2004
(PAGE 2 of 4)
Giving credit where credit is due—is it the right thing to do? Sure. Do you have to do it? Absolutely not. The business world is a jungle. We’ve all had a manager who took credit for our work and got away with it time and again. While you are probably no longer with that company, he is still there thriving off a new batch of prey. Is it right? No! Is it how business is done? Sure.
Some say that ruthless tactics can get you ahead in life, but at what cost? They say that they may work in the short run, but how often do they work in the long run? Well, my answer to that is very simple: they very often do work in the long run. You can be successful based on nothing more than public perception—on a company level—or the opinion of your boss—if you’re an individual.
Some facts of life: taxes are inevitable, the quarterback gets the girl, and he who holds the gold makes the rules. Sure, you may have the gold by some malicious means, but you have the gold nonetheless.
Some people may tell you otherwise, but that’s business school talk. Professors can lecture all they want, but it’s not what the real world teaches you. Life is underhanded; it’s miserable—but those of you who can persevere and get over it are the ones who will win in the end. Now, before you run out and take credit for a fellow employees work, take heed: the bitterness and resentment you create will come back to haunt you. Your co-workers will bury you the first chance they get. So you better be prepared to take it as well as you dish it out.
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Running a company comes down to perception. You must force the public to believe that your product is the best, your service is superior, and your experience is unsurpassed. If you denied every piece of good press about your company and said to the public, “No, it’s not true. I’m actually a loser who hasn’t contributed anything new to the world—all I’ve done is rehashed an old idea and won’t accept credit for it,” you’ll be out of business so fast, it will hurt.
Now, let’s look at the other side of that coin and flip the situation on its head: if you and your company have come up with a spectacular product or idea, and someone else accepted credit for it, and you don’t have enough guts to step in and correct the situation, what then? Whose fault is that?
Fight for yourself, Ivana Ma! You have certainly screwed up in the past, but this time you truly came up with an astounding idea and you should have gotten credit. You get the credit through hard work. When that doesn’t work, you have to ask for it. When that fails, do what I do and demand it!
People who are griping about what Jennifer did are just that: gripers. You must fight for yourself. Sell your ideas and land that position that no one can take away from you. Successful people aren’t afraid of being seen in a negative light, (trust me on that one) because in the end, the gripers are going to gripe no matter what happens or who wins.
There are some people out there who are thrilled because Trump had to declare bankruptcy. They are happy in his misfortune. People are glad to see him fail instead of giving him credit for once turning around an $8 billion debt. So, the way I see it, you can’t care what people are going to say—because they are not going to give you the credit you deserve anyway.
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You can be successful based on nothing more than public perception.
