CNBC.COM
If you want to get ahead and gain respect at work, don't make "being nice" your priority, says Stanford University organizational behavior professor Jeffrey Pfeffer.
You might think being nice will help you stand out from your peers, but you weren't hired "to win a popularity contest," says Pfeffer, 76. "You've been hired to get things done." Focusing on results doesn't mean you should be mean or rude, but "you shouldn't optimize on being popular and being nice. You should optimize on getting your job done," he says.
Many young professionals, especially women, feel pressure to be liked at work, notes Pfeffer, who has taught at Stanford for nearly five decades and written or co-written 16 books on topics like leadership and career development. He's the host of MasterClass' "The Power Playbook" course, which published on August 21.
But you don't actually need anyone except your boss — and, perhaps, your boss' boss — to like you, he says. Start building those relationships with some old-fashioned flattery, he recommends: Compliment them on a new initiative they're spearheading, for example, or show them you value their insight by asking them for career advice.
"The people in the hierarchy are the people who are responsible for your career," says Pfeffer, adding: "You need to worry a lot about what your boss thinks about you. You don't need to worry so much about what everybody else thinks."
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As for showing your boss that you're a capable employee — and standing out from your colleagues — you'll gain a positive reputation simply by being a person of your word, Walmart chief people officer Donna Morris told CNBC Make It on August 25.
Good employees "deliver what you are expecting at the time that you're expecting," and the best ones deliver ahead of schedule, said Morris. "So what I would say is you're better to deliver early than to deliver late, and you're better to deliver more than less, if that makes sense."
High-achieving employees also find ways to "reduce stress, rather than create it," billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said in October 2024. In particular, they know how to "analyze a situation, find a solution and not make a big deal out of it," he said.
"There's a lot of people that are just a whirlwind and everything seems to be difficult, causing a lot of unnecessary stress," said Cuban, adding: "The greatest value you can offer a boss is to reduce their stress."
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