hackthegrind.net

Here's the "Cheerful Bulldozer" persona I use to plow through passive-aggressive organizational resistance There's also a universe of challenges that show up when you try to be productive within an organization. Chief among them is **passive-aggressive resistance:** People who don't directly stand in your way, but drag their heels about getting stuff done for you. In classic social engineering style, I adopt a persona I call the "Cheerful Bulldozer" to get stuff done - without incurring (too much) hatred. **If you find stuff like this helpful, please consider [dropping me an email](http://hackthegrind.net/subscribe/) to receive (occasional) updates on productivity, social engineering and other no-bs ways to business mo' betta.** #Plowing through resistors with the Cheerful Bulldozer persona Waiting on other people to do stuff sucks. Yet to make things happen, you need other people – mostly people you don’t hold authority over. This leaves you dependent on them to be available and communicative, to open doors for which they hold the keys to, and to sign off on things you’re doing… …which means you’re too often met with delays, pushback, egoism and other ulcer-inducing dysfunctions. *It usually goes a little like this...* You: Hey, I think we need to be more of a thought leader in our industry. Passive-Aggressive Resister: Oh my god, totally! We should start a blog and enter some conferences. I have a great blog idea. I’ll start it. (3 weeks pass). PR: Hey, where’s that blog you were working on? You: … ## Passivity is the Problem Make no mistake, organizational passivity is a major problem. But it’s not your problem, unless you’re an owner. Your problem is getting stuff done in an environment where people ignore your emails, blow off your meetings and withhold critical feedback until too late. The methods for combating these Passive-Aggressive Resistors? Mostly ugly. You can go over peoples’ heads, and have their bosses force them to do your bi