At work at work, I see people around me whose careers are underperforming; who are on the verge of being fired if they are junior, or being shuffled off to some harmless department if they are senior. But when I compare these people to me, I don't see that much of a difference. Yet somehow the powers that be trust me and give me great freedom to do whatever I want.

It's this freedom that let's me suceed-- I make as many mistakes, even more, than some of the troubled employees. But the freedom means that people mostly don't notice. If I was a problem employee and being managed for performance, then every mistake I made would become an issue to be delt with and provide a bit of data used to solidify negative judgements. Free from the eye of upper management, I get to clean up my mistakes before anyone notices. I come away looking clean.

I feel uncomfortable talking about this with my employees. As engineers they want firm objective standards for success. For me to suggest that how people judge them is just as important as the actual work they do, smacks of politics and subjectivity. It labels me as one of those managers who has lost touch with the work that needs to be done.

Yet, in an organization of quality people who have good judgement, what people think of you is a real measure of success.