Oh, boy, don't they just know it. There are various forms of power and information is one of the critical ones. This is why there will never be open management. It is far, far more one way than the other. The information that managers hold is one of the principal pillars of their power base.
We are in the information age. Companies that collect and rapidly exploit information have a distinct competitive advantage over their rivals. It's no different on the personal level.
There are some ideas and details you should never divulge to your boss and some you should keep back for the right moment. Every time you let something go, a little of your "proprietary knowledge" (that which is unique to you) goes public and it loses its value.
Think what happens in share dealing. If you were a broker with some hot, insider information, would you let everyone know just so you can look clever, well informed or to curry favour. Not likely. As soon as that information got out, the share price would equalise and you would no longer make a profit from what you used to know. It has lost its value.
So judge the value of the information you hold and keep it for the right moment or for your own use.
I myself have used the tips and tricks I am divulging to you here to work more effectively and efficiently and so get ahead of the game. That meant I could produce and then hoard reams of information, letting it out only at judicious moments to show regular progress. In the meantime, I got on with my own stuff.
Although this means you do have to master the technicalities of what you do, it also means there is nothing wrong with bluffing, cheating and rigging the cards. If the slack in the system gives you manoeuvering space, use it. If there is a way for you to make it look good without having to bust a gut doing it, then take it.
Let me give you a few examples.
- Whilst doing his degree thesis, a friend knew that, on balance, academic theory was more important than the scientific accuracy. So he used his knowledge to get a feel for what the results should look like. Then he drew on his 'key results graph' three points for scale, filled in an arbitrary curve between them and then made the rest up. He got upper second class honours.
- I saw a technical supervisor alter test results to fit the tolerances. It wasn't important - it had been tested again since - but the gaps and the mistakes would lose the department compliance points in the QA audit if discovered. How often was this done and how much time, effort, worry and stress did it save? Who knows. But it never showed.
- I've seen fabricated production data. Stuff that would be detected downstream anyway, simply by the poor nature of the material (and so wouldn't go to the customer), but which could never be traced back thanks to a management system with more holes than a warehouse full of Swiss cheese.
- I've known students crib reports from friends who took the course some time previously, even from back home in foreign countries.
- I've even known some to pay professionals to do the work for them. After all, what happens when you get a business problem you can't solve internally? You pay a consultant, right?
- I've also seen a yearly appraisal of mine that didn't even take place. And that's senior management making stuff up!
So you see how commonplace this is. From beginning to end, top to bottom, people are bucking the system. Have you ever walked over a "keep off the grass" sign? Have you ever done 40 in a 30 zone? Of course you have. You take little advantages wherever you can. Many rules are made just to keep you in your place. If you stick rigidly to every rule made for you, then people will take advantage of you.