When I was a consultant, I learned that the most powerful person is the client. The client is the source of your company’s revenue. If you piss off the client, you jeopardize that lifeline - not just yours, but every one of your colleagues that also supports that client. That is a lot of mortgage payments to put at risk.
If you anger the client, the decision on “what to do about you” is taken out of your supervisor’s hands. It won't matter how well your supervisor liked you or how talented you are. If the work is not there, or the client won’t work with you, you are - at best - an expense with no matching revenue. At worst, you are a liability for the firm.
As a government employee, power is diluted over several stakeholders. Elected officials, congressional staff, political appointees, executive leadership, constituents of your agency mission, and watch-dog organizations - each of these have a bit of power that collectively make up the equivalent of private industry’s client. Some have more power than others and it is different in each mission space. In addition, there are legal constraints and processes that provide some protection for government employees from the negative impacts of rash action.
Despite this, angering a powerful person is still a significant hazard. If you let your professionalism down, even if it is worn down, the offense you risk giving can result in you being assigned to the crappiest post, where you will live out your career in lonely misery. On top of that, you may never learn who was offended or who gave the order that sent your career into oblivion.
If you don’t know who the powerful is, assume everyone is powerful and treat them accordingly. If you don’t know who the client is, treat everyone as if they are the client.
-AR
© Aron Ruthe, 2015
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