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Notes -
I think your instinct is correct in general with regards to how much the game is up in terms of being able to “hide your power level”, I’m just an extreme outlier living in an extreme outlier environment.
I have a very social job that requires me to be everyone’s buddy and have an “always on” personality. Disagreements, even polite ones, are not tolerated and heavily punished.
The area I live in is not only deep blue like the Pacific Ocean, it’s extremely isolated from trends that are obvious to outsiders.
I live in the DMV area and close enough to the dark heart of the stay-behind operation of Obama’s America that I’m dealing everyday with maximum ideologically motivated reasoning. I call it the “Iron Bubble”, people are extremely out of touch and in denial with what’s been shifting underneath their feet in the culture at large. Ironically, it’s very “Hitler & his closest associates in the Bunker” vibe, or reminiscent of “Baghdad Bob”.
It’s not surprising, there’s real money and power at stake here with the fall of the old order. Things like DOGE & the fall of DEI broadly have extreme direct consequences to these people. I’d love nothing more than to loosen up and be sincere as is my nature, but it’s like being in a squad of Japanese soldiers who are holed up in an island and don’t know the war is over.
Please elaborate.
I’m in sales. Apparently, I’m very good at it.
Much like the modal mottezin I imagine, I grew up a pretty nerdy & introverted male with a high IQ. I would have never guessed I’d make my way in the world in possibly the most common high extroversion / competition/ charisma based job there is.
My Rolodex is filled with literally hundreds of individual people who represent business relationships which all are different, all have to be managed differently, whose individual idiosyncrasies have to be understood and handled, from the most humble little shop owner with a 3 person crew, to corporate structures of thousands of people.
Although I’m a very genuine & straightforward person by nature, getting people to like you is part of the job. I’ve found consistently finding the area of minimum tension between full honesty and being diplomatic is the key.
My whole job, other than the technical know-how which I have and is very important as a baseline, is managing and nurturing relationships.
Any tips? I fear it's too late for older modal mottezins like me, but in my life I've repeatedly noticed that "nerdy, but also extroverted" is practically a super power - not because of anyone whose position was officially entitled Sales, but because every successful job hunt or project proposal or promotion is essentially a sales job. If you can get that without simply being born with it then I'd love to know what advice to that effect to give my kids. They're all starting from either "charismatic and a little competitive" or "competitive and a little charismatic", if that helps.
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