Kevin Samuels Discussion Thread

[The Devil's Advocate]

I can easily grade my career thus far based on my previous co-workers or college classmates. And everyone is basically at the same exact level. The few I know who moved to middle management never moved any higher. Because either the company got bought out or it folded. If they got bought out. The new owners brought in their own people to run the show. It didn't matter how personable you we're. If you came from the failed company you we're seen as damaged goods.

With the average tenure of employees being so short these days. And companies merging like crazy. Playing the game doesn't reap the same kind of rewards like it used too.

I've seen dudes hitch their wagon to 1 Manager or Executive. But that can only carry you so far and for so long. Usually once that person leaves they aren't taking you with them. Unless you're really high on the totem poll yourself and it's a package deal.

And if you we're dumb enough to stay behind. Everyone who was jealous of your status before. Now is looking for payback because you're starting all over. Needless to say these people found life way different going forward.

Office Politics is competitive and cutthroat. And dudes who play that favoritism game. Better be careful they don't make more enemies than friends. Because one minute you can be on the fast track up the Corporate ladder. Only to find yourself out of a job after a hostile takeover by another company.

And the new company always looks to get rid of old Management first. I've seen Managers who had complete power for decades. Get marched out of the building by Security guards. To basically send a message to everyone else. Whereas they feel the worker bees are still trainable to this new culture. But they know these Manager and Executive types from the failed company can never be trusted. So they frog march they're asses out the door in the most embarrassing fashion.

I can't argue with a single word you're saying.. Everything you said, is added into "Playing the Game"

It's not all "kiss ass and have dinner and here's the keys to the company".... There are ways to go about it.. Friends to make, enemies to make, people to attach to, people to stay clear of, and like you said......... All that can go right out the window when a new company comes in....

I guess that's why they say never stay in the same job or position more than 5 years.. Really 3.. Always be looking to move up and out. Constant grind and playing chess..


I personally, also don't have the effort to go ALL in. But I am personable at work. I'm not going to get married to better my career, but I know better than to be the "office whore" and get my name around as the single guy. Definitely don't shyt where I eat (fukk with women at work)... And I do try to keep a nice personal rapport with my bosses, so they know I'm a real person and not just an employee...



But yea... There are those who are cut throat and go all in, all the time, and it's all a game.. 48 Laws of Power nikkas. That's why I was happy to get out of the DC market.

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

Right,
if you work in any office environment , it’s spouse/kids talk

I have literally seen people question why a male(30+) coworker isn’t dating/married yet and not to his face...think about that

Hell, I’ve been asked when I’m getting married/who I’m dating and I’m still pretty young

Unfortunately a lot of black men still haven’t gotten the message about marriage and this thread is proof

Not really it depends on the sector. I intern at a SaaS company and most people here aren't in relationships or married. That includes upper mamagement as well. I noticed that tech and IT in general is filled with bachelors. It honestly makes work more fun. We all hang out and play video games together? We play sports after work as well. None of that wife/kids talk. Also keep in mind that a lot of upper management in most jobs are baby boomers or Gen X. Times were different back then so marriage rates were higher. Nowadays a lot of young men are opting out of marriage completely. I know for a fact that's the case for my generation (Gen Z) and some millenials.

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

I’m very young and I won’t the walk anytime soon. Even strangers say I look 15 and Coli thought I was teenager playing around when I had my avi up. I wish I looked a decade older than I do now. Little kids think I’m around their age. shyt is degrading. I can’t wait until I’m 30 because I’ll finally look like an adult by then.


I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs, I don’t party, I have a strong baby face, and a healthy bmi(5’2/120 lb). If that’s not enough, I’m freaking Black. I’m not worried about a wall.

You really sound like a MGTOW Cac.



My man, did you fail statistics? Did you even take it? Your response would only make sense if 85% of marriages ended in divorce. You should have said “ you think 50% of men......”

Also, only 41% of first time marriages end in divorce. The reason why the divorce rate is so high is because people who divorce once are likely to do it again and again.

Why have the Mods not banned you yet? We got a 16 year old out here cosplaying as a "college student" on thecoli.

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

I haven’t read all posts here but there is some truth to what he’s saying.

a single guy is seen as less of an adult as you move up the ladder. Think about it, if you make it to a VP or above level at a company, your peers gonna be talking about their kids and families and shyt, it just is harder to fit in if you don’t also, if you single there is a bias because they know if your married, you’re less likely to switch careers or companies.

hopefully this changes but I’m a breh who’s a GMB and a senior manager and it is a little weird lol

It honestly depends on your job breh. In tech, it really doesn't matter wether or not you are married or not. This mostly applies to jobs where baby boomers and Gen X are generally the bosses.

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

Breh... that’s how the real world is.

I’ve seen so many incompetent CACs get promoted, that it’s impossible to not see that’s how it is.

The house painting analogy doesn’t work because they’re there to do one job and leave. Who gets promoted may be there for decades. So it’s no surprise someone will
choose their less competent buddy over the more skilled less social guy.

I learned that the hard way. But that thankfully pushed me to become independent and not rely on these CACs and their good Ol’ boys club.

It's like this no matter what kind of job you get. Even in the military .

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

youre essentially saying here you’ll pick someone u can have fun with, over a more competent person.

See, it is imperative you understand that the work place is not a popularity contest. The whole purpose of being at work is to make money. If you put your social aspirations first before profits, that says a lot about your decision making skills.

Think of it like this. Ur house needs a paint job. There’s one guy who’s known as the best painter in town. But he’s not friendly. He’s not rude either but he’s just not a chatty patty type. But then u have a friend who also paints. But doesn’t have the same type of experience as the first guy. This is your house. Who are you picking for the job?

It most definetly is my guy. Especially for jobs in retail, travel and leisure.

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

It's like this no matter what kind of job you get. Even in the military .

Where you think I learned all this from?

Joined because it was simple.. Time + Testing = Promotion.......... Until you get there and realize it's the same exact buddy buddy shyt from top to bottom. Even getting awards, ribbons and medals is a politic game

 

[yung Herbie Hancock]

Where you think I learned all this from?

Joined because it was simple.. Time + Testing = Promotion.......... Until you get there and realize it's the same exact buddy buddy shyt from top to bottom. Even getting awards, ribbons and medals is a politic game

In the navy we have something called evals to make rank. I once had a peer who made two ranks within the span of a year. Happens to be that she was fukkking our chief (hes the one that writes evals) because one year later he retired and they ended up getting married .

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

In the navy we have something called evals to make rank. I once had a peer who made two ranks within the span of a year. Happens to be that she was fukkking our chief (hes the one that writes evals) because one year later he retired and they ended up getting married .

Maaaaaaaaaaaaan.... I see your whoring boss and I raise you one.....


The first job I got in my current career field, I had a boss just like that. So he's the head of the entire project we're on. Without giving too much away, this project is in charge of a gov. dept, that operates over the entire state. This state is split into 5 sections.....

Long story short.... his secretary, who happens to travel wherever he does, goes from secretary... to the fukking HEAD of all 5 of those sections. One day I'm coming into work talking to her about reports and bullshyt. The next day she's gone.

"Oh where's Tonya?"

"You didn't hear... Norman promoted her to head of regional operations"


"nikka what"





To say she was unqualified is an understatement.. But he wasn't done.. I wondered why every single woman in this office was banging. I mean DIMES. I mean I haven't been there in 4 years and those of us that stayed together, still reminisce on at least 6-8 DIMES over there.....


Well it comes out he's got suitS against him and the company for sexual harassment. He was smashing half of them, trying to smash the other half, people were getting fukked over for jobs... Seriously though. He got canned, I think they paid out of court, state dropped the contract, all that. Found out him and his top dogs was just living it up on the expense accounts and bringing in baddies to smash and push them through the system if they liked them.

 

[the bossman]

I get that u were being a good partner. But it’s sad Ur not seeing the bigger picture. The idea of having to “wow” people or make them like u by probably being overly nice, is troubling.

I guess people are different.

how about ur man be so damn good at his job they bend over backwards to make him happy? Your man is not the first antisocial man out there. They’re out there galore and they do great things.

the picture u just painted here is pitiful and the fact that u typed it up as something to be proud of is ridiculous. I hope they’re not white.

youre essentially saying here you’ll pick someone u can have fun with, over a more competent person.

See, it is imperative you understand that the work place is not a popularity contest. The whole purpose of being at work is to make money. If you put your social aspirations first before profits, that says a lot about your decision making skills.

Think of it like this. Ur house needs a paint job. There’s one guy who’s known as the best painter in town. But he’s not friendly. He’s not rude either but he’s just not a chatty patty type. But then u have a friend who also paints. But doesn’t have the same type of experience as the first guy. This is your house. Who are you picking for the job?

Breh, honestly. this is a childish mentality. You have to think at things at a deeper level, or at a higher level. Simply put, in the business world people prefer to do business with people that they know, trust, & like. The higher you go this is what you will find. That million dollar business deal? people will do that with someone they like and trust over someone they dont. Even if that person has the better product at an even lower price.

Once you get to higher levels of business you can be the most talented, experienced, super-skilled engineer in the world. You will be limited at some point. Depending on what your goals are in life, maybe you don't care or making a certain amount of money is just good enough for you. I have bigger dreams tho and understand the human element is everything. I'm saying this as a skilled engineer myself. Emotional Intelligence will always trump technical ability the higher you go. That's how the world works

 

[⠝⠕⠏⠑]

I used to think that this trend would change with current marriage rates but upper echelon of society associates being single with being lowerclass.

Forget the fact that these corporate bosses marriages be toxic as hell

 

[HarlemHottie]

Forget the fact that these corporate bosses marriages be toxic as hell

Yup.

 

[the bossman]

I work in IT and even before COVID a 100% of my team is remote. We've never seen each other in person. I don't even know any of my co-workers family names.

I make over 6 figures and get rave reviews for my work. My marital status had no bearing on me getting this job at all. The only thing that matters is my skill level.

I work for a global company that's in over 100 countries. Maybe in these mom and pop shops people have time to chop it up like that. And meet your wife and kids at company functions. But for these global companies with workers spread out all over the globe you'll probably never meet these people face-to-face. Much less than them knowing all your personal business.

Most of you dudes have to kiss ass to get ahead. I've worked with a ton of people like that who only got promotions because of ass kissing. Ain't nothing wrong with that but for some us it's only about whether you can do the job or not. I've never become buddy buddy with any of my superiors. And it hasn't stopped my rise up the Corporate ladder one bit. Mainly because I job hop to get the job I want so there is no reason for me to play the game in order to get promoted.

First off. Get your money, black man

Just don't get too cocky. You have to think long term. You've put in the work to develop some of the hottest in-demand skillsets and getting financially rewarded for it. At this point you're an individual contributor. A well-paid individual contributor yes, but still just an individual contributor.

However, there is a ceiling. It's not a big deal as a young single breh. But unless you plan on having to study the latest new trending technology every few years for the rest of your life -which becomes exhausting, at some point you will want to move up. Either you want to move into management or become an executive or maybe you want to go into business for yourself. Either way you will need to focus on emotional intelligence and getting people to like you and trust you. Whether it's getting other executives to like you or potential customers you're trying to win a big contract with.

 

[Michael's Black Son]

This may change as more millennials get into top corporate roles but as it currently stands (with Gen X and Baby Boomers in those positions), there is a lot of truth to it

exactly. Getting married doesn’t mean shyt to millennials. They barely even want to date. And Gen Xers wish they were single after getting burnt out from 15+ Years of marriage. They see how this new gen is living and they are because they know you can do your own thing and still eat out here.

 

[UberEatsDriver]

I know a few brehs who never married early or had kids they where dogs at work getting that money then once they had enough and moved on up the ladder that's when they settled down. When you young and hungry and grinding some don't want to have to split time between work and home life some want to build a foundation for the future.

Thats Me