How to Become the “God” of a Company With 0% Contribution to Growth
Welcome to a company where performance is measured differently.
Here is the appraisal formula:
Employee A: Helps increase business by $20K + excellent CEO flattery
Result: Great appraisal. Big appreciation. Applause in the meeting. “Amazing work!”
Employee B: Helps increase business by $400K + focuses on work instead of flattery
Result: “Yes. OK. Good.”
No applause.
No special appreciation.
No recognition proportional to the result.
Apparently, the missing KPI was Flattery.
$20K Deserves Applause. $400K Deserves “OK”
Imagine two people sitting in the same company meeting.
One contributed to $20K in growth.
Management celebrates:
“Fantastic job!”
“Excellent performance!”
“Great contribution!”
Everyone claps.
Then comes the person whose work contributed to $400K.
Twenty times the result.
The response?
“Yes, OK. Good.”
Next topic.
What was the difference?
Was $20K greater than $400K?
Of course not.
The difference was that one employee understood an unofficial corporate skill better than the other:
Keep the CEO Happy.
The $400K person made a classic mistake.
He thought results would speak for themselves.
They don’t always.
Sometimes the person presenting $20K knows exactly whom to praise, whom to agree with, when to smile, and how to make management feel that every successful idea originated at the top.
Meanwhile, the person producing $400K is busy producing another $400K.
Then Comes Appraisal Time
Now things become even more interesting.
Who receives the great appraisal?
The person responsible for the larger measurable contribution?
Not necessarily.
The $20K employee may receive the bigger appreciation because his most successful project wasn’t business growth.
It was relationship management upward.
And once that culture becomes established, the message to the rest of the company is very clear:
Don’t become 20x more productive.
Become 20x better at flattery.
And Then We Hire More People Like Him
This is where a bad culture becomes expensive.
Instead of asking:
“Who actually helped grow the business?”
management starts asking:
“Who fits well with us?”
And somehow “fits well” increasingly means:
Agrees with the CEO.
Never challenges questionable decisions.
Praises management.
Supports the internal group.
Knows how to present small achievements as major victories.
Then the company starts hiring more people with the same characteristics — sometimes at even higher salaries.
The company isn’t just rewarding flattery anymore.
It is investing in it.
The Real Cost Isn’t the Salary
Suppose you pay an ineffective employee an extra $30K.
You might think the company’s loss is $30K.
It isn’t.
The real cost can be the $400K contributor eventually asking:
“Why am I doing this?”
When people realize that recognition has little relationship with contribution, behavior changes.
Some stop giving their best.
Some stop sharing ideas.
Some stop challenging bad decisions.
And the best ones eventually leave.
Now you’ve saved your favorite employee’s ego while potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in future value.
Excellent corporate mathematics.
The Meeting Tells You Everything
You can learn a lot about company culture by watching what receives applause.
If $20K gets a standing ovation because the right person delivered it while $400K receives “OK, good” because the wrong person delivered it, you don’t have a performance culture.
You have a political culture.
And political cultures eventually create a fascinating organization:
People become experts at looking successful instead of making the company successful.
The CEO May Eventually Pay the Biggest Price
Flattery feels good because flatterers rarely bring bad news.
They tell leadership:
“You’re right.”
“Great strategy.”
“Everything is improving.”
“The new team is much better.”
But a strong employee may say:
“This isn’t working.”
“The numbers don’t support that.”
“We are losing customers here.”
“We made a bad decision.”
That person can sound difficult.
But sometimes the person willing to tell the CEO “No” is worth far more than ten people constantly saying “Absolutely.”
A CEO surrounded only by people who agree with him eventually stops receiving information.
He receives confirmation.
And those are very different things.
A Simple Test for Every Appraisal
Before giving someone a huge appraisal, promotion, or public applause, put four numbers on the screen:
Revenue created.
Costs reduced.
Customers gained or retained.
Measurable business improvement.
Then ask:
“What changed because this person was here?”
If one employee contributed $20K and another contributed $400K, recognition should have some relationship with that difference.
Otherwise, stop calling it a performance appraisal.
Call it what it really is:
A Flattery Appraisal.
Because when $20K + flattery beats $400K + results, the company isn’t rewarding performance anymore.
It is teaching every employee exactly where the real promotion department is located: outside the CEO’s office.