Hitching Your Wagon to a Star - Payoffs/Perilous

Hitching Your Wagon To a Star Has Payoffs But Can Be Perilous
March 14, 2006;
Wall Street Journal

Link to entire article

Every company basically organizes itself along two parallel lines. One is the conventional corporate hierarchy. The other is an informal network of shared political ties that create coalitions or clans.

The benefits of hitching your wagon to an office star are pretty clear: As your manager ascends the corporate hierarchy, he or she can pull you along as well. In the face of often plodding upward mobility at many companies, that can amount to a shortcut replete with substantial rewards, including money and power.

But there are also perils. Once a patron moves, departs or fades, that executive's favorites can become sitting ducks. Arguably, those employees may have been promoted beyond their competence. Blaming them avoids placing the blame where it belongs: on the kingpin responsible for their rise.

The fact is it's a jungle out there, and the players at most offices aren't that far removed from our distant relatives in the animal kingdom. "When a new lion takes over the pride, he kills all the babies sired by the previous male so he can sire new young," says retired environmental health specialist Don Vandervelde. "The same is true for chimpanzees and other primates."