Very important & underappreciated skill. Anyone who wants to climb needs to be part politician.
I once saw someone's Senior Manager promotion announcement/congrats from the department VP include the justification "I see you on a lot of e-mails" and little else. The guy was by all appearances merely noisy and feckless, but his career ramped up faster than did mine..so I guess - ultimately - not so feckless after all. Just min-maxing on the skills that resulted in advancement, and delegating the technical functions to others under and around him.
The same VP once told me over coffee, "[your location] is out of sight, out of mind-- and I mean that as a compliment." I've since managed to match my noisy colleague's career level, but first I had to learn to put on my public face and be visible in my work.
I once saw someone's Senior Manager promotion announcement/congrats from the department VP include the justification "I see you on a lot of e-mails" and little else. The guy was by all appearances merely noisy and feckless, but his career ramped up faster than did mine..so I guess - ultimately - not so feckless after all. Just min-maxing on the skills that resulted in advancement, and delegating the technical functions to others under and around him.
The same VP once told me over coffee, "[your location] is out of sight, out of mind-- and I mean that as a compliment." I've since managed to match my noisy colleague's career level, but first I had to learn to put on my public face and be visible in my work.