One of These Things

Google "two kinds of people" and you'll get around 139 million hits. This indicates three things to me: it's not a new idea, everyone has a smart alec comment on the concept ("those who like peanut butter and those who are able to get through the day without crying"), and you are unlikely to end up here because of Google-ing the phrase "two kinds of people."

That said, I have learned that it is useful to consider two broad categories of people at work. One kind of person is looking to get ahead. The other is looking to hang onto what they've already got.

This is important because the best person to work for is someone who is in the same category as yourself. If you want to get promotions, raises, new opportunities, and your boss isn't sure how he rose so high in the organization and but wants to hang onto his position you've got a problem. Your boss will squash you down like an elephant on a Tempurpedic mattress for fear that your excitable bouncing around will get his bosses (or customers, or investors) to realize they should have gotten rid of him a long time ago--perhaps by replacing him with you.

If you are instead a boss who is a madcap go getter and your employee would like to be left alone at their desk and allowed to slink home at 4:59 every day, it will be just as bad a relationship.

It's also true that it's easiest to sell to people who want to get ahead, especially those who have just gotten a new job and would like nothing better than to show up their predecessor by bringing in a better vendor than that old fogey had used.

But what do you do if you and your boss or employee don't align with your goals? Simple. Get out of there. It isn't going to work. Or do you think you can fix your boss or employee to see the world your way?

(Oh, and by the way, what's with the Tempurpedic "Space Foundation Certification" stuff? Always wondered? Well the Internet has the answer. It's technology from space, don't ya know. Just like this critical to humanity's future technology.)