The qualities for which we are so often praised - team-working, empathy, openness, conscientiousness - may be very good for the organisations in which we work, but they are the opposite of the qualities required for individuals to succeed: single-mindedness, calculation, and acute consciousness of status.
I detest the back-biting blame-shifting power politics that goes on where I work - typical of similar private and public organisations. I partly won't and partly can't do it. I'm fairly good at my job, and I just want to be able to get on with it, making a positive contribution, and getting on with everyone around me. It annoys me that the power-players think they are more functional than the rest of us, when actually they are the problem. They are like a constant drain on the effectiveness of the organisation.
And yet they rise up.
Why is this? Why doesn't the attrition of reality wear down organisations of this type, and replace them with fresher more effective systems? People like you or me, who want to work creatively and co-operatively, are in the majority - so why do we all work in organisations dominated by these status-seekers and sharpsters?