You are mistaken: those you are referring to are bad brown-nosers. Those who gush over every little word from the boss or spend their time excessively complimenting him. No, no. The good brown-noser - like all truly dangerous people - is undetectable. Because they are both loved by their superiors AND popular among their colleagues. Everything goes well for them: they work less than average (otherwise, why bother?), they get promoted more often, and they manage to avoid all social plans. In short, sucking up is an excellent method for personal and professional success! Shocking? Yet, this teaching is provided by a humorous manual with an eloquent title: "How to Become the Perfect Brown-Noser at the Office." Its author, Benjamin Fabre (a pseudonym), is 34 years old and has a background in the field that automatically lends credibility to his words: this former Essec graduate has indeed trodden the halls of a large banking group before becoming a business strategy consultant. "I often had the opportunity to observe people who spent half their time not working, but playing politics. And for them, things went like clockwork." Friendly creatures
How many of these friendly creatures have we encountered, who know how to be delightful at opportune moments, while we know that they are dripping with ambition? How many times have we ourselves used the art of flattery to win hearts, both surprised by the effectiveness of the method and a little ashamed? Among the dozens of situations listed in his book (Brown-nosing in a job interview, sucking up to a vulgar or incompetent boss, or to a guy whose wife "looks like Pierre Richard", asking for a salary increase, pushing aside a rival who is as much of a brown-noser as you...), Benjamin Fabre swears he has experienced one in real life: having to give a "sincere" opinion on a completely awful document produced by his boss. In short, at a time when everything (women's magazines, Hollywood cinema, reality TV...) encourages us to be "authentic" and "whole", we cannot recommend enough the reading of this book that venerates hypocrisy.