Office politics. Where there is an office, there is office politics. Alliances are formed, gossip is passed, status is determined by who knows what when and before whom. It is important who you play the game with and find out who is playing the game with you. You are not very bright if you think you can avoid it, or that by indicating that you are not playing, that the game should not be played on you.....that's just being naive.
I mean what I say when I say that 5 years has changed me both personally and professionally. The return trip to Los Angeles will be different. I will try as much as possible to stay above office politics. I do not want to know the latest gossip. What I really want to do is work. I do not want to spend the majority of my day in meetings with other divisions. The more time I spend in meetings the less time I have to work on projects for upper management. Let everyone else crawl, scratch and claw. I intend to spend my work days preparing executives for business trips, educating myself on the rest of the world, developing at least 1 strategic initiative, watching CNBC, and apologizing whenever I inevitably screw up. I do not want to point fingers, shift blame or deflect. My intention is to be seen and not heard. I want a calm office environment, where the phone is not constantly ringing. I want brief 15 minute meetings with top management once a week to work on and prioritize projects.
I want my work to speak for itself. I do not want to join the guessing game of who will and who will not be given an invitation to an executive house party. If I am invited, excellent, I will attend. If not, I will not posture and ridicule and scorn and be bitter about why not me.
I have no less passion for the international television business. I still love TV and film, even more so now in appreciating the creative and the executive talent that stands behind it all. But this is a job. A job I take very seriously and intend contine to live up to the highest ethical, moral, and professional standards. Yes, there will be mistakes, and I am willing to make some and then apologize for them.
The only question now is how long do I wait to ask upper management to pay for my Berlitz Arabic language classes? I need a groundswell of support from other managers to let the President of the division know so that he has time to think about and prepare an answer prior to my asking him. I want to get myself established a bit and feel out how the office culture has changed, get a few projects successfully completed under my belt and then ask. I should not wait more than 6 months before asking. Literally, the day I begin work in Los Angeles, I need to begin working on the next step in my career. For me, I would very much like the option of working in international television in the Middle East (more specifically Abu Dhabi or Dubai). I would consider it a cherry on what has already been a great hot fudge sundae of a career. I love Haagen Dazs ice cream.
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