Ask HN: What's your favorite corporate power move? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What's your favorite corporate power move?

47 pointsjppope77 comments

I've never been able to find a list so I figure I would ask y'all.

Examples of corporate power moves:

- Showing up 5 minutes late to a meeting, to show someone your time is more valuable. - "The Hard CC" where you cc someone's boss to throw them under the bus for not being accountable. - Having someone prepare a report or do a lot of work on something and then tell them to "simplify it" or just give you the "key points" in a meeting

What are your favorite (or least favorite if something drives you nuts) corporate power moves?

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Giving my boss a heads up that I was gonna quit if things didn't change. Things didn't change, so I quit. They had almost no other technical staff so they called me asking to fix "just a couple little things". I quoted my rate at 300$ an hour, minimum 20 hours. They balked. Three days later my former boss calls me and agrees. I ended up billing 80 hours.

So weird how human nature works. The more I grow old, the more I see everything is a struggle/war/negotiation.

I'm always looking for friendly high drive collaboration but it's so rarely the case.

Yes and then you can't unsee it

My new place is much better :)

I enjoy being a nice person and not fucking over other people for my own personal gain.

Seconded, with the caveat that I enjoy fucking over those who fuck over my team.

+1 to this!

Yeah, but sometimes a hard CC is the only thing that works, no matter how nice you try to be before resorting to it.

Me, too. Plus, I sleep really well.

I don't know if it's a power move, but I like to reiterate all verbal communications in a follow up email to the person(s) I was conversing with, prompting them to ensure I understood everything correctly. While it's more of a CYA thing, the power move comes into play when they try to feign ignorance on the topics of the conversation, and I can use their written words to set the record straight (or just have a record of what I may have understood, but they failed to clarify by not responding to my follow up).

I would call that good practice and reasonable manners, this is normal in my professional circle and not doing it would be a dick move or maybe setting up for an ambush.

Conflict arises from differing or unmet expectations, so continually managing alignment of expectations is crucial to an end result where both parties feel there has been a positive outcome.

It's definitely wise to have a written record of certain conversations.

This is not a power move BUT something you absolutely have to do to protect yourself against the corporate blame game.

Quitting. Especially effective in the Midwest U.S. where jobs are more scarce and employers tend to take you for granted.

I'm not sure why you got downvoted, but I have to agree.

At least a couple of employers I had in smaller towns in the midwest would treat employees like property, and would assume you would never (or be able to) leave. "You should be grateful to even have a job" was common.

As someone else who works in the Midwest U.S. you are absolutely correct on this. There are always opportunities to fill the void short-term if you decide to "pull the trigger" so to speak.

What Midwest are you talking about? It's the opposite - there are tons of jobs and not enough talented people to fill them.

Being late isn't a power move, it's just makes you look disorganized and disrespectful. This would have 100% the opposite of your intended effect with me.

Real power moves are exercising real power: saying no and being able to back it up, expressing a dissenting opinion, solving problems and providing real value, brining in money, controlling budgets or headcount, threatening to quit because you can/will, leading by organizing people to get something done, articulating a framing for situations that cut through the BS, understand people's motivations and what's actually going on, etc. These moves "take up space," but don't confuse taking up space for power. People with actual power won't.

So get to those meetings on time.

> Being late isn't a power move, it's just makes you look disorganized and disrespectful.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no

The classic programmer corporate power move is wearing whatever you want to the office.

Metal/Video Game/Nerd T-shirt + Bermuda short + Espadrille was my main dress code this summer. Skater shoes + cargo pant + hoodies right now. My power move would be to switch to a sirwal (best pant ever!). I may try it. My god level move would be to wear a mundu or a pareo.

I've done the pareo before on multiple occasions. The cooling factor in 30°+ heat is unrivalled.

Easily one of my favourite things to wear at work when the weather's good for it. Probably want to practice putting one on and keeping it secure for a bit first though - don't want it slipping off in front of people! (That would be a different kind of power move.)

How much cooler if you freeball it?

Hard to quantify it but it's far more comfortable due to the soft fabric and lack of friction around the thighs. It's super refreshing not just with the breeze but also because it's like shade for your legs.

It's honestly a shame that it's not socially acceptable (in the West) for men to wear skirts and dresses.

One of these days I should go to work in the fencing outfit. (Mask optional.)

Maybe even the full historical reconstruction set I have.

Good advice indeed for a neophyte. In my case, I am used to it. It is my main outfit at home for something like 15 years. I am not confident enough to wear one in a French open space though.

A (male) friend used to wear a utilikilt to work from time to time.

Isn't that something? I work in a big-4 accountancy office and just wear a hoodie or t-shirt.

The response of "noted".

You do a little scribble in your book or tablet or whatever and look up and say "noted" and then just stare with a pregnant pause, indicating you are waiting for the next meaningless "concern" to be articulated.

I do this all the time and didn't realize it was a power move. I find myself saying it to curb additional discussion I feel like is going to be superfluous - especially over slack or whatever. Noted!

Employ or feign total ignorance of operations so no one can expect a raise, because the boss/manager doesn't even know what you do here.

Assume loyalty only from those whom you have directly hired; remove all those who predate you.

Make a strict deadline, but merrily add features at your whim, when the deadline is missed, then act astonished "how could this have happened?"

Elicit sympathy from your underpaid minions for crashing your Porsche again while auto racing.

I am sorry.

Having confidence in myself and my own future. Enough so that I can say exactly how I see a situation and I can deal with the consequences whether positive or negative.

To add to my comment, having learnt this 10 years into my career, I feel like this thinking is a virtious circle. If I am able to communicate exactly what I am thinking in a diplomatic manner, the more it is appreciated and the more success I have. This leads to greater confidence and the more I express myself in such a fashion.

At $bigcorp we had a senior vice president continuing his phone calls in the mens room (toilet) at the pissoirs. I can imagine he saw himself doing a power move (I certainly didn't) showing how important or busy he is. He did wash his hands at least.

Ha - I've never seen the word pissoir before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir

Although you probably meant "urinal", I'm glad you used this word! Now I know what the things in Paris are called which are a life saver if you have a little kid with you who says they don't need the bathroom while at the hotel and then 10 mins later do need it.

Ah yes, it was a urinal. Source: stood next to him (awkward)

U.S. President Lyndon Johnson used to take this power move a step further. In one-on-one meetings with members of his staff, he would go into the bathroom attached to his office, start urinating, and then call the staff member into the bathroom to continue the conversation. They would then have to either go into the bathroom and literally watch him relieve himself, or risk offending their boss, who happened to also be the most powerful man in the world.

> They would then have to either go into the bathroom and literally watch him relieve himself, or risk offending their boss, who happened to also be the most powerful man in the world.

Those are the times you politely demur, and when pressed ask the "reducto ad absurdum" question - "Sir, you wish for me to watch you urinate?" Helps if you have a solid poker-face.

From the comments, seems there is confusion on what you're looking for. I sense sarcasm in your request, i.e., 'What are cargo cult things one can do to show power?' But some responses are more genuine. If you make the ask clearer in what you're really looking for, it'll make it easier to decipher the responses.

My 2 cents...

Mea culpa. I could have been clearer. I was mainly looking for a "zoo of power moves". definitely not advocating for the use of dis-respectful social tools. I was mainly trying to identify what they look like out in the wild - the good, bad, and ugly included.

Document dump. Not software-related, but someone needs files for diligence and either has some obnoxious request list or wants something you'd prefer they not really know about; you just dump literally everything on them in terrible formats to potentially obfuscate negatives and consume an enormous amount of their time. Many people will find whatever they need to check the box and move on. It's a dick move.

Wow. never seen that one out in the wild, but damn that does sound just savage.

You mean hundreds of scanned pdf files without ocr and password protected with different passwords isn't helpful?

CC boss is called "escalation" and is useful if direct requests don't work. It's not throwing under the bus, its ensuring accountability. CC boss on the first request is usually unnecessary.

Showing up late to meetings is indeed a "power move" but not respectful. Its the same as "busy bragging", talking about how much work/meetings you have. Both these are completely lame.

The biggest thing I see is holding the floor in meetings, even timing your words and sentences to prevent interruption. This is sometimes necessary when making brief, complete points, in a very aggressive environment. I like to teach people how to break into the monologues.

"busy bragging" tells me that you are unorganized/inefficient/trying to impress (i.e. not powerful).

"Per my previous email" is my favorite. I usually attach the prior email that answers the question.

Isn't this passive aggresive? Would you do this in real life? I feel like this thinking would breed bad culture and is a short-term win at the expense of a long-term relationship.

"It depends". I've used this when someone is claiming to their boss that we never communicated something, generally in situations where we've been communicating like crazy, but possibly not with them directly, but via emails to the several affected parties.

Generally I assume that the person is just forgetting because they are very busy rather than out to get me, but, nevertheless, you have to defend yourself against that sort of thing. Passive-aggressive in this case is superior to aggressive-aggressive. If you don't defend your reputation, nobody will.

I generally agree with what you said. Maybe I take issue with the phrasing: "Per my previous email" I feel like it triggers some people. I prefer to try and soften it by saying something along the lines of: "I don't know if you got my previous email (see attached)"

That one is additionally condescending, implying the recipient cannot handle their email.

Good job!

Having changed roles that puts me in more frequent contact (not support) with admins, “per my email”, “per my instruction document” seems a bit kinder than RTFM.

I don’t want a long-term relationship with IT people who think I’m their resource for their live streams of conciousness IT sessions.

I had a call this week where my instruction doc was on the right side of the webex and the terminal on the left and they wanted me to read the commands to them...

These just sound petty, not powerful

Wholesome corporate power moves, also known as being a good leader:

- Allowing your team to work remotely if they want to

- Assuming responsibility for something that needs doing when it would be easier to pass the buck

- Shielding your team mates from unwarranted external criticism

the complete list is practically endless

Unfortunately, while not fair to others, it's sometimes necessary to act petty or narcissistic to get ahead in the real world.

The "Hard CC" isn't a power move its how things get done. I constantly check in to make sure I'm doing my job right and when I am and the problem isn't fixed, its time for it to be someone else's problem.

source: working in Support.

My boss never accepts calendar invites for meetings, and may or may not show up to the scheduled meeting.

Brilliant filter since people will ask again if she's really needed, vs just invited for show.

Being the only remote employee when the rest of the company is onsite.

Huh. Achieved that at my previous job (3 days out, 2 days in), but the effect was ultimately opposite to what you'd expect. Sure, initially I was the person that managed to convince management to give them remote work. Fast forward couple months, I was next to nobody on the floor, because I couldn't keep up with the social aspects of the workplace and wasn't present at the relevant watercooler conversations.

I like to leave at exactly 5pm.

Ha. Slave to the man. Do you badge out too?

Few people can entirely avoid having to work for a living.

Refusing to sign NDAs and non-competes

How are these power moves? They transfer your power to someone else? Showing up late for a meeting purely to waste time tells the other person you are extremely inconsiderate and someone they should actively avoid.

If I value my time, why would I spend any of it around you??

The rest of these things are just extremely rude, I cannot understand why you'd call them 'power moves'. They show insecurity and a desire to destroy the company you work in, not 'power'.

Sometimes rude is necessary to communicate a point or just moving shit out of the way.

They're certainly quite rude. It's possible the OP isn't sincere in asking for more ways to be rude.

In a sense, being rude is a signal of power, because if you're rude and not powerful then you'd get punished for being rude. (As you say, I wouldn't wanna work anyone who behaves so rudely, though). https://medium.com/incerto/how-to-legally-own-another-person...

(OP here) I am 100% not advocating the use of "power moves". I don't believe they grow mutual respect or help build constructive work environments... but let's be real, any of us that exist in the real world have seen this stuff from time to time and like everything, there are good and bad versions of it.

The "Ask HN" is meant to be of an "observational" nature. My aim is that the discussion provides utility for understanding social dynamics, and hopefully people use discretion with the info (i.e. Hanlon's razor).

Hopefully the info can be used to help people navigate their lives better.

Scheduling an offsite or business trip to avoid trivial initiatives you don't want to deal with.

nice.

I didn't start doing this because it was a "power move" although its been pointed out to me that it was since.

My company like big 20 person meetings where my portion of the agenda may only be 5 minutes long.

The rest of the meeting I will listen to what is going on, chime in when relevant, but I keep on coding so I can meet my deadlines. This bothers some people who think your full attention should be on the meeting, but honestly it just isn't required for me so I multitask.

The re-org in which dead wood is shunted off to an out-of-the way planning or strategy assignment.

Extra points for dotted-line reporting to another strategy person. Further extra points if the planning assignment is not funded adequately and/or has no personnel authority.

Pretty much every scene in the movie Margin Call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhy7JUinlu0

I don’t know what kind of corporate culture you are dealing with but I personally believe in Open,Honest,Direct approach to solve my problems.

Canceling the meeting after 3 minutes to show them you don't tolerate lateness.

"What I'm hearing you say .." and then say what you want to happen.

lol. Yep seen many a manager use that

Working from home

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