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Do You Have Friends in the Right Places?

I learn so much by watching politicians stumble. Sometimes I feel a sense of schadenfreude (i.e. rejoicing in the misery of others.) But I actually feel sorry for Eliot Spitzer (and especially his wife--who looks like she has aged years in the last month.) My take away from the whole affair (pun intended) is that Eliot Spitzer fell quickly because he did not have friends in the right places. His aggressive and muckraking style made him an easy target when it became clear that he had some skeletons in his own closet.

It was only 48 hours from the time that the first news hit the press to the time he announced his resignation. By any measure, that is a meteoric fall.

Would Spitzer had survived if he had made more friends in Albany? He certainly would have lasted longer. So the career take away is that given the choice, it is better to make friends than to make enemies. Get to know your colleagues. Show interest in them. You never know when you'll need their support.

Full post as published by Counsel to Counsel on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).