Mellow personality vs the alpha coworkers

[Garcon1986]

Hi in real life I take the mellow approach to work, i.e. getting angry about patient care doesn't make it better, and I try not to get jumpy about things if I really don't have to.

 

 

This places me in conflict with those with alpha/ aggressive personalities, who view me as someone who doesn't have enough "drive" to do clinical research.

 

 

I do however consistently get great evaluations from my bosses.

 

 

Have any mellow people successfully worked a long time with aggressive bosses and felt alright doing it? Have you been able to suppress personality conflict? For now I gravitate towards the more mild mannered coworkers and be congenial and polite to those who have aggressive personalities, but still feel uncomfortable around them.

[preraph]

I can't imagine why on earth clinical research would need someone aggressive.

 

Glad your bosses approve.

 

No, I'm not mellow, but there was guy I knew at work who was very almost invisible when he came to work at the second place I had known him from. He just didn't socialize at work (everyone else did pretty much) and stayed in his office and kept his head down and didn't even acknowledge people as they passed by. It was a crazy place with all types, and I guess he just didn't want to get too involved with anyone and get in the middle of office politics or dramas. He quietly packed up and left on time and didn't work late like most people. He just stayed below the radar. I think him being so tight lipped, people didn't know if he had any clout or not or had connections in the executive branch or not, and just left him alone. I would say he was very secretive. And he lasted at the company.

[Garcon1986]

I like your advice preraph, I just tend to protest poor behavior a little more than I should. In the words of Woggle, I'm too "woke" for my own good sometimes.

 

 

The great thing is that I have wonderful coworkers right now who are relatively mellow. I can have a nice job, great friends, but almost no chance at dating.

 

 

I am looking to move out of the South - case in point, is that I've worked at Harvard's Children's Hospital. I don't have my heart set on that particular hospital but I use it to illustrate the aggressive personalities. The atmosphere there amongst physicians is "you don't work hard enough", "you don't research enough", "what you didn't sleep 2 hours and come back to work the next day" - in short a pressure cooker environment. Most States I have my eye on, have this to some degree. I can compensate for it by staying away from the aggressive physicians, but I think I can do better.

 

 

What I'm looking for is - has anybody else been a quiet chap and thrived at an aggressive workplace? What other things can I do to keep my head down (I'm definitely doing that as a new employee) and not get muddled up in the office politics too bad? It's easy where I currently work because the office politics is relatively benign.

[Mr. Lucky]

 

What I'm looking for is - has anybody else been a quiet chap and thrived at an aggressive workplace? What other things can I do to keep my head down (I'm definitely doing that as a new employee) and not get muddled up in the office politics too bad? It's easy where I currently work because the office politics is relatively benign.

 

The truth is success in many fields requires some degree of self-promotion. This can be as subtle as volunteering for the right things or as overt as taking proactive steps so higher-ups notice you.

 

Mellow is fine for co-worker interactions, but a laid-back career approach isn't usually the fast-track to success...

 

Mr. Lucky

[preraph]

Unfortunately, I've heard all that pressure stuff and ridiculous hours everywhere and until the law changes it, it will remain. I wouldn't be a doctor for that very reason. I don't live to work. They expect that from doctors. I would stay somewhere small town if I were you.

 

I know one kind of laid back place are the Native American federal hospitals like in Oklahoma. My doctors do have some time off at least. And they seem chill.