Popularity Matters

Do you remember when you were in middle school and high school and your parents always told you that popularity then wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things when you grew up? That in the real business world, it wouldn't be about how popular you were?

In the words of Glinda from Wicked, it's all about Pop-U-lar. 

In some respects, your parents were right.  The Hollywood version of popular people in movies such as Mean Girls, Sixteen Candles, Can't Hardly Wait, etc.- those guys aren't necessarily the most successful people ever.   And your level of popularity in high school won't often determine your success in business feeding chain.

But being popular in the office does matter.  In the musical Wicked, one of the funny songs done by Glinda is called Popular.  She sings, "It's not about aptitude, it's the way your viewed so it's very shrewd to be very very popular, like me."

And in business this couldn't be more true.  I have watched the dingiest of dingbats get promoted because they were friendly(ish), well known, and well-liked by upper management. Meanwhile,  smarter, more effective people doing the work trudge along in the same positions because someone important doesn't like them or they don't have enough face time with the right people.  I have friends who can't get promoted because in their reviews they've been told that they aren't very well known around the office.   What does that have to do with their ability to excel at their job?

This isn't to say that I think being popular is a bad thing.  I've been popular- it was great.  I've been unpopular- that was fine too.  I don't think that if you are popular, it means you are incapable or stupid. You have rare birds in business who are smart, effective and popular.  At the same time, I don't think popularity should be a part of the decision to promote people.  Promotions and raises should be based on performance.  If you are excelling at your job, you should be promoted.  If you are doing OK, but are popular, that's not a reason to get promoted.  Being more popular at work can help you excel at your job in some instances, but you shouldn't just excel at being well-liked and then move up.  

A performance-based path to success used to be so clear. These days, performance is just a small piece of the pie.  If your performance is just ok, you can still get promoted if you manage to have the right face time and say the right things.  Rhetoric without action will get you a long way if you sound innovative and being friends with the right people will get you even further. 

It's funny how true the adage, "It's not what you know, it's who you know," is in business.  If you are known and liked by the right people, you are going to succeed.  If you are known and disliked by those same people, you'll find yourself stagnating early in your career.