You have to lie, cheat, back-stab to be successful in this life. It's a "cut-throat" world. Look at the government for proof of this. Forget about what they taught you in elementary school. Life is not a cheesy "Full House" episode.
sharei completely disagree.
in fact, i think the exact opposite is more likely to be true.
you may be able to cheat or deceive for short term gains. those might even be big gains. but people have memories. we develop reputations. and if you show yourself to be a person who cannot be relied on to behave with integrity, you will likely pay a penalty for that. you'll be treated differently, and your career may suffer.
having worked for a leviathan corporation, and dealt at times with people at or near the very top, my experience has always been that those people are indeed very tough minded. but they've also generally been very fair. & if you're not fair, if you don't treat people fairly, i don't think you should expect to have long term success at anything.
LOL! Look at the President of the US. He's fair and has integrity?
"and dealt at times with people at or near the very top, my experience has always been that those people are indeed very tough minded. but they've also generally been very fair. "
That may be true that they got there because of their skills. Kudos to them.
However, often times, people at the top are there not because of their skills but because of their political connections. I.e. nepotism, quid pro quos, sexual favors, etc. Or just pure luck. Then they use the BS and cliche "tough but fair" card to justify it. That's wrong, corrupt and it's sadly how the world works these days.
How is Trump unfair though?
Anyhow, I think I have to agree with Damos here. Karma will bite most wrong-doers in the butt sooner or later.
i would draw a line between how any president gets elected and how people have to navigate their own lives and careers.
trump's election is a true black swan event, and it happened in the context of many other things that have happened in the u.s. in the recent past. i would not take any lessons from that election in how you need to work through your own life, or for how anyone is to be successful.
& frankly, if you look at how his presidency is being judged and how he's perceived, i'd suggest that does not make an argument for long term success either.
if trump loses the election & is regarded by history as a disgrace and a failure, is he still a success?
as for all of those other things you say in the last paragraph: that's often true. nirvana is not for this world, and people do take advantage. but i would not suggest you take those cases and use that as a means for working through your own life, or believe that you can get somewhere doing things like that. you're more likely to find yourself cast aside and in the employment dumpster if you act as if this is how things are to be.
i think your own views here are really an ugly caricature of how the world actually works in the main, & if you actually spend time within organizations of any sort, you'll see that most of the people who achieve lasting success do so because they do things that are valuable: they're skilled & behave honestly & with integrity.
and if you think that being an ugly person, doing dishonest or unethical things is the only way to win, then you've probably already lost.
& as i think you've already conceded, it's surely not the only way to win. there are people who succeed without being unethical, & it's surely better to rise & succeed while doing well than rise while being rotten.
i'd hope we can at least agree on that.
Good post!
share👍
shareAre you telling me that the movie Forrest Gump was all lies 😢
shareDepends entirely on definition of success.
shareDepends entirely on definition of success.
shareI disagree.
I shan’t comment on politicians here, as this is the incorrect board for that.
Jennifer Lawrence did it.
shareWell, that's what they say, but I have seen people succeed if they are clever, stay focused on their original goal, surround themselves with people who can remind them not to stray (such as best friends and advisors who can speak freely, even to disagree), and educate themselves. You would be surprised at how successful some people can be who are not on the elites' radars.
The trouble is, the loudest people in any crowd of powerful people are always the one the majority judges by, and that's not a good way of looking at the group as a whole. If you take a look at the quietest people in the group, you'll get a better idea of what it's really like.