It took me a while to get comfortable with my stalkers. Fort Worth, Texas, is not that small a town, but my staff always seemed to know my whereabouts. “I saw you were shopping at Central Market yesterday; how was that steak?” “Is your daughter sick? She missed school today.” And this was before social media. Now, stalkers don't even need to leave home to know what you're up to. When you become an executive, you're always on the clock.
People love to talk. A simple tip is that the number of people who work for you is equal to the number of people who talk about you. Get comfortable with it. If you don't like people talking about you, management is not your thing. Don't be a jerk, and they'll mostly say good things. Learn to develop thick skin. Remember, complaining about the boss over cocktails is a favorite after-work pastime.
Your out-of-work behaviors become part of your at-work reputation. If you're a jerk to a waiter, odds are, it will get back to the office. I'm not suggesting that you have to change your behavior outside of the office. Just be aware that the higher up the ladder you climb, the more the line between the work you and personal you blurs. If it's your goal to be professional, you need to make it a full-time job.
As an IT leader, you will often deal with aggressive salespeople; we will discuss how to approach this in the next two chapters.