Why Jerks Get Ahead
Being obnoxious often pays off in the workplace.
And there isn't much you can do about it.
By Jeffrey Zaslow
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Are you sometimes a conniving weasel at work? Do you notice yourself
stepping on other people's fingers as you scamper up the corporate
ladder? Have you rudely ignored colleagues who can't help you
advance?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you probably
aren't the biggest jerk in your office.

That's because the really big jerks almost never acknowledge their
devious behavior. In many ways, that's the secret to their success.

"Jerks are just normal folks carried to extremes," says Gloria
Elliott, an organizational development consultant in Roanoke, Va.
Having helped over 100 companies deal with obnoxious employees
through her "Jerk Training" seminars, she sees a pattern: "I've
never met a chronically difficult person who owns up to his actions."

So while the rest of us question our motives and behavior -- and try
to resist our most ruthless impulses -- the really big jerks just
keep plowing through the workplace, single-mindedly focused on
furthering their own careers. To understand why a lot of them rise
higher than the rest of us, you've got to understand their mind-sets.

They tend to be narcissistic, arrogant, manipulative and goal-
oriented. They trust no one and refuse to collaborate. They lack a
capacity for empathy but are skilled at politics. Though they
purposely disregard how they're coming off to colleagues or
subordinates, they're often very good at sweet-talking bosses, who
remain oblivious to their dastardly ways. The result: Good people
get fed up and leave companies, while jerks get promoted.

"I have seen entire departments wiped out, and the only ones left
standing are the boss and his jerk," says John Hoover, an
organizational leadership consultant whose new book is titled "How
to Work for an Idiot."

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Successful jerks make the most of what they've got. If they're tall,
they use their height to intimidate you. If they're good-looking,
they seduce the boss in ways that remind him that you're less
attractive. If nepotism makes them untouchable in their jerkiness,
they make sure their daddies are aware of your jerky tendencies.

Foul Ball

I met my first workplace jerk during college in the late 1970s, when
I was a hot-dog vendor in the stands at Philadelphia Phillies games.
Invariably, the most successful vendor each night was a surly,
sweaty, scowling middle-aged man I'll call Mr. Jerk. Though every
vendor hated him, his jerkiness made him the top dog in terms of
sales.

He knew where the money was -- out in the stands of Veterans
Stadium. So each time he walked to the commissary to fill his empty
kettle with hot dogs, he had no patience for the crowds of fans in
the ballpark's hallways. While the rest of us vendors politely
said "excuse me" as we inched our way through the shuffling mobs,
Mr. Jerk would bark at people, "Watch it! Don't get burned!"

Our bulky kettles contained 50 hot dogs in a basin of lukewarm water
heated by a small sterno. The outer metal box remained cold to the
touch, but fans didn't know this. So when Mr. Jerk barreled toward
them with his kettle, they'd jump out of his way as if scorched by a
hot iron.

Back at the commissary, as Mr. Jerk hurriedly reloaded his kettle,
hot dogs would sometimes bounce to the dirty cement floor. They'd
roll across the room, and he'd scoop them up and toss them into his
water. He had no reservations about selling those scummy hot dogs to
innocent children.

Mr. Jerk also bullied young vendors, warning us to stay out of
sections along the first-base line; those belonged to him, he said,
because of "seniority." Through intimidation, he'd banish us to
sparsely populated sections in the outfield.

Watching him each night, I recognized his positive traits --
ambition, resourcefulness, creativity -- but realized he had
succumbed to the dark side.

Ms. Elliott estimates that 10% of people in the work force are full-
time jerks. The rest of us just have our moments, which we temper
with self-control, self-awareness and repentance. To survive and
thrive in the presence of jerks, Ms. Elliott says, you must figure
out who's redeemable and who's not.

When you've decided someone is a complete and remorseless jerk, back
off. They're not "normal," so normal responses -- trying to talk
things out, asking them to reconsider their actions -- rarely work.
Instead, says Ms. Elliott, resist taking their bait, limit your
contact with them and always be on guard. "Nice is not contagious,"
she says. "Don't smile at these people."

If you do choose confrontation, you need a lot of co-workers backing
you up. Even then, your team can't demand a "personality
transplant"; just outline the work-related behavior that you and
your colleagues want changed.

A Greater Force

Mr. Hoover recommends admitting that you are "powerless" over the
jerks in your life. Otherwise, "harboring all that resentment is
like drinking a cup of poison and waiting for the jerk to die," he
says. Make a pledge to yourself that you won't let them rattle you,
even as they keep getting ahead in life.

Sometimes people will give you strong warnings that they see their
jerkiness as a necessary tool. Take note. In one of Ms. Elliott's
seminars, an attendee admitted: "Look, I can be nice until 9:15
a.m., and then it's every man for himself."

Likewise, Mr. Jerk, the vendor, saw the stadium work force as a dog-
eat-dog environment. In his view, any hot dog I sold was a hot dog
he didn't get to sell. And in some ways, his raging competitiveness
was contagious.

I spent four summers lugging a hot-dog kettle through Veterans
Stadium. Eventually, I confess, I adapted a few techniques from the
master. I found myself shouting, "Don't get burned!" as I muscled my
way through crowds. Little kids would jump out of my way. Wives
would pull their husbands to safety. I was such a jerk.

Luckily, I think I'm redeemable. Why? Because I still feel kind of
guilty about it.

--Mr. Zaslow is a Wall Street Journal senior special writer based in
Detroit.
March 29, 2004; Page R6

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