Good Advice From Bad People

Recently, I was reflecting on how fortunate I am. Throughout my life and career I have had some incredible mentors who have guided me, supported me and given me fantastic advice. As you would expect, these are good people with good intentions who had and have my best interests in mind.  My life is richer due to them.

I have also dealt with a rouges gallery of bad managers, backstabbing peers, fools, cheats, liars, and thieves.  For these people, I have been an impediment to their means and agendas.  I would like to say that nothing good has come from my association with these people.  Except, that would be a lie.  In spite of their motivations, my life is richer due to them also.  Yes, the advice from this group has generally been more extreme: sweeter from the liars and cheats; more bitter from the bad managers and thieves.  And you have to sift through more garbage to find the useful nuggets, but it can still be there. 

For example, the work I do today can be attributed to advice I received from individuals in both groups.  In fact, it was one of the bad people who forced me to get off of high center (being unhappy in a safe job position) and do something (being happy while taking a risky job).  And the seed of an idea for starting this blog came from a “friend,” who turned out to be a jealous peer, who was trying to derail a contract negotiation. 

My point is that being able to sift the good advice from the bad people can be good for your psyche and your career.  That and, if you are one of those people who needs to keep score, overwhelming success is always the best revenge.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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