Don't play politics in the office...

There was a company that was so badly managed that the secretary to the Managing Director (MD) was empowered to manage all the managers. She had been a secretary for many years and was widely-known to be superb at playing office politics. She would report to the MD every minor and trivial matter she came to know in the office.

The MD was rather senior in age, resting comfortably on his laurels and managing from his armchair through the secretary. One day, the secretary sat in one of the Managers' Meetings. In that meeting, a manager was making a point, drawing on the Peter's Principle in management, the secretary who likes to know names, immediately asked, ''Which Peter?'' because there were several Peters in the company.

Most of the managers were rudely shocked at her ignorance. But, nobody dared to even laugh out loud because if you make her feel small, you would be in for a hard time later on.

The moral is: Don't wear a shoe bigger than your foot. Don't play politics in the office. Work with your brain and heart, don't work just with your mouth.