Yesterday had a great conversation with a client that uncovered some pretty awesome insights about navigating corporate and workplace environments. He’s transitioning from entrepreneurial independence to corporate structure, and our discussion revealed principles that I believe could add tremendous value to anyone facing similar challenges. Here are the key lessons that emerged.
The Illusion of Control
We walk into corporate structures believing we can bend them to our will. We’re wrong. Dead wrong. The uncomfortable truth slaps us in the face daily: we cannot control other people. Not your line manager, not your CEO, not the colleague who consistently undermines you in meetings.
The first brutal awakening is recognizing where your power actually lies. I’ve seen talented professionals waste years trying to control outcomes that were never theirs to command. They punch and punch and punch until they’re exhausted, vulnerable, and broken.
The spheres are simple but devastating in their clarity:
- What you can control: your actions, responses, preparation
- What you can influence: relationships, perceptions, certain outcomes
- What you can only be concerned about: most organizational decisions, other people’s attitudes
The moment you stop trying to control what you can only influence, something shifts inside you. The exhaustion lifts. The mental clarity returns. You’re no longer fighting gravity.
The Silent Power of the Jab
In the corporate arena, most people just swing. They throw massive punches with new ideas, challenges, and innovations—leaving themselves completely exposed when they miss. And they will miss. We all do.
The true fighters understand the art of the jab. Small, strategic contacts that maintain presence without risking everything. The good morning every day. The thoughtful follow-up email. The consistent delivery on small promises that builds a foundation of trust.
When you jab consistently, you’re always in position. You’re never overextended. And when the perfect moment arrives—when your opponent makes their move—you’re ready to counterpunch with devastating precision.
This isn’t manipulation. It’s understanding human psychology. It’s recognizing that in any system of hierarchy, information and influence flow differently depending on which direction they’re traveling.
Bravery Up, Awareness Down
Speaking truth to power requires bravery. Speaking power to those beneath you requires awareness. This asymmetry exists in every organizational structure, from startups to multinational banks.
When you speak up the hierarchy, you must carry the weight of courage with you. Your words need to be backed by evidence, by confidence rooted in preparation. The emotional labor is yours to bear.
When you speak down, your words carry weight you may not even recognize. A casual criticism can crush someone’s spirit for weeks. An offhand comment can be interpreted as a complete rejection of someone’s worth and contribution.
The most effective leaders I’ve worked with understand this fundamental imbalance. They deploy bravery when speaking upward and awareness when speaking downward. They recognize that in both directions, how the message is received matters infinitely more than how it was intended.
Expressing vs. Explaining
We’re taught to explain our positions clearly. To articulate our reasoning. To justify our thoughts with logic and precision.
But explanation without expression is just information transfer. It lacks the human element that makes influence possible.
When you express—when you share how something makes you feel, what it means to you, what values it touches—you create space for genuine connection. You activate the emotional centers of the brain that make lasting impressions possible.
Anyone can explain why a project failed. It takes real vulnerability to express what that failure meant to you, what you learned from it, what you’ll carry forward.
The Courage to Wait: Aggressive Patience
The hardest lesson for driven professionals to learn is that sometimes the most strategic move is to wait. To hold your position. To let the situation develop around you before committing to action.
This isn’t passive waiting. It’s aggressive patience—the deliberate choice to bide your time while remaining completely engaged and ready to move decisively when the moment is right.
In a world that celebrates immediate action and constant motion, this kind of strategic patience feels almost rebellious. It requires confidence that borders on arrogance—the deep-seated belief that when your moment comes, you’ll recognize it and seize it with both hands.
Finding Magic in Avoided Conversations
“The magic you’re looking for is in the conversations you’re avoiding.”
The conversations that make your stomach churn. The feedback you don’t want to deliver. The boundaries you’re afraid to establish. The questions whose answers might force you to change.
These conversations—the ones that require 10-15 seconds of pure, unbridled courage—are where transformation lives. Where relationships deepen or end. Where clarity emerges from confusion.
I’ve watched people avoid these conversations for years, carrying the weight of them through their careers, letting them steal energy that could have been directed toward growth and innovation.
Those 15 seconds of bravery can redirect the entire trajectory of your professional life. They can open doors you didn’t know existed. They can free you from limitations you’ve placed on yourself.
The path forward isn’t complicated, but it demands a willingness to see yourself clearly. To recognize where you’ve been swinging wildly when you should be jabbing strategically. To identify the conversations you’ve been avoiding and the courage you’ll need to have them.
The workplace battlefield doesn’t have to break you. With the right mindset, it can reveal your true power—not the power to control others, but the deeper power of knowing exactly what you can control, what you can influence, and what you can release.
And in that knowledge, you might just find the freedom you’ve been seeking all along.
