On the path to success, you will sometimes confront situations in which you must directly compete with someone and your victory will create bitterness. Even more frequently, your success will cause others to compare themselves to you and to react with jealousy at your ability.
Take comfort in the knowledge that it is not a personal attack on you but instead a sincere but unpleasant form of flattery.
“Every year, I spend less time talking around the water cooler,” says Sheila. “As you advance up the corporate ladder, a lot of people begin to think of you as the enemy instead of a friend who happens to have been promoted.”
Sheila struggles with the implications of her rapid rise through the ranks of the financial services company where she works. “At the same time, you can’t sit around wishing away success so that your co-workers will like you again.”
The best advice on the matter came from her father, who toiled for forty-five years without achieving the advancements his daughter had in less than ten. He said to Sheila, “Treat everyone with respect, and don’t treat anyone, above or below you, based on their station. Eventually, that respect will come back to you.”
Six in ten top managers report that they have lost friendships among co-workers who were not promoted as fast as they were.
Austin 2000