This got me thinking as this was just entertainment related news at first where for the product WWE there seemed to have recently been a massive talent layoff as the company decided to part ways with many people or simply not renewing contracts. This then generated conversations on what they could have done better. While there was the typical advice of getting better, one thing that constantly came up was that people should have spent more time developing better relationships with people within the company.
While the first reason was the usual corporate politics where if you are on the good side of someone they will likely find ways to keep you, the other was to prepare for situations like these as you can potentially maintain professional contact with all the people who may be able to help you in the future as well or even vouch for you to brig back. Essentially, it’s almost like this was actually more important than just working your hardest to be the best.
I suppose to a certain extent it is true but it’s always interesting when people just outright ay it as you want to believe it’s always the hardest working people that get ahead. There is just too many human factors in any business environment where you can’t ignore the relationship building aspect to it.