Before you dissociate yourself from politics, I implore you to research the expanded meaning of politics. Any activity you involve in that is aimed at improving your status or increasing your power and influence in an organisation is politics. Not many want to be called a politician but we all play politics.
It is funny how we blame politicians for everything that doesn’t seem right but forget that we play politics in our family units, social and even religious circles. That must be why political scientists say that we are all political animals.
As many are wont to believe, office politics is not best described by deceit and mischief. If your aim is to sell yourself and be accepted like politicians do when they ask for votes, you may not be a politician but you should play office politics.
Beyond managing yourself in a corporate setting, you have an additional responsibility of managing others, high and low. If you detest politics to the extent that you see it as the ‘dirty’ game played only by those seeking political power, you would be outplayed before you realise it.
You need more than your knowledge to succeed and remain successful in a corporate setting. Relationships matter. A survey conducted at the Carnegie Institute of Technology revealed that only 15% of financial success is attributable to your technical knowhow. The remaining 85% is associated with your skills in human engineering. Relationship experts call it relational integrity.
Knowing what to say is not enough, knowing how to say it and when to say it is politics. Knowledge sets you apart and earns you respect but knowing what not to say publicly even when it is correct may be all that is required to project you for recognition, in addition to setting you apart.
“To do list” is common but there are many unwritten rules in a typical corporate setting. Those who break such rules may not be officially punished for lack of justifiable reasons but they can be silently relegated. This is why I recommend that you should also have a “not to do list” to regulate yourself. That is politics.
While communicating your intention in a performance driven environment, resist the tendency to reduce human beings to figures. Such leadership style is transactional as opposed to inspirational leadership. The latter is more result oriented in the long run.
Knowing yourself is a relational guide. You should be known for something and that something may not be what others are known for that make them relevant. What works for others may not work for you. Having that knowledge is politics.
The next time you say you are not cut out for office politics, remember that politics is not only for politicians. It is about improving your status and increasing your power and influence in any setting you find yourself.
Play the politics but with dignity and integrity, not forgetting your humanity. You can lean on other people’s shoulders to rise but you don’t have to deflate the ego of anyone to inflate yours. Remember that job finishes but your personhood has no expiry date until your final exit.
This is October. Thank God it’s Monday.
©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr.
06 October 2025
