Once upon a time, my employer decided I was enough of a naive workaholic to put me on a list. This list contained other people who were naive workaholics. They decided they should herd us together and teach us to be more effective, slightly less naive workaholics.
The guy who taught the class had many nuggets of wisdom, but this one stuck with me. He drew this simple diagram on a pad of paper at the front of the class.
Simple enough? He went on to explain.
“How many jumps are there between you and the CEO? 4? 5? More? Let me tell you something:
Everyone between you and the CEO is playing a game. The CEO doesn’t have to; everyone works for him. You don’t have to, because you’re the lowest man on the totem pole.
Everyone else is playing a game. What’s maddening is the # of games one has to play to get anything done.