About ten years ago when I was a young trainee, I had benevolently asked a more senior comrade - a size - if he
"knew"
so and so.
Impossible to remember the name of such and such ... On the other hand, I remember very well the answer, laconic, of my interlocutor:
"Quentin ... I know everyone."
A touch of humor perhaps.
But above all an infinite immodesty.
This is not necessarily the case with our precious colleague,
"the one who knows everyone"
in the office.
When it comes to business networking, there are two types of characters.
On the one hand, the one who can quote the first name of any employee, from IT to accounting, and who has already shared a moment with him.
On the other, the one who is only interested in the powerful ...
Read also: "The people who matter in the office" # 47: The fussy!
Knowing everyone is a hell of a goal.
It's about being curious, taking an interest in the life of your company, identifying gangs, friendships - feigned or sincere - and constantly observing office life with a keen eye.
It's about having a good memory of things and people.
To perfect your knowledge, there is a tool of extraordinary efficiency: the organization chart of the company, which is often made available in a few clicks, in Microsoft Outlook.
We thus discover hierarchical relationships that we did not know.
It also makes it possible to put names on faces.
Or the opposite !
Your colleague who knows everyone has this peculiarity: he is able to give you information about any collaborator you come across at the corner of a hallway.
In the office, having a sense of
name-dropping
- which can barely be translated by
dropping names
- is a real quality, if you know how to use it sparingly: it allows you to use the names of others to show his own superiority ... while more or less subtly belittling his interlocutor.
Whoever knows everyone does not need to shout it from the rooftops and prove it over and over again without being asked anything ... Know by heart the organizational chart and the mysterious game of internal relations is one thing.
To boast about it is another.
It is this detail that will strongly influence what others will think of you ...
Name dropping
consists of using the magic that emanates from the name of celebrities to establish your own superiority while making your neighbor become aware of the lackluster existence he leads.
For the sake of this column, please feel free to share your own experience of important people by writing to qperinel@lefigaro.fr.
