Dos and don'ts in a new work environment: Lessons from The Empress of China
Many of my peers will be graduating and starting work in a couple of months. I just wish someone had given me a guide on surviving my first job when I first left JC.
It is widely argued that Chinese period dramas, where the concubines plot and fight each other to death, offer very good tips on surviving in the workplace. I've explained why I don't agree with this.
However, I have discovered that The Empress of China, in which I have criticised Fan Bing Bing's Wu Zetian as being incredibly unintelligent, and naive to be point of being childish, offers extremely good tips on what NOT to do when you're on your first job.
Ready? Let's go!
1. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
In the first episode, 14 year old Lady Wu enters the palace. As the contingent walks across the courtyard, an empty carriage symbolising the Emperor passes them and the contingent was ordered to kneel.
Lady Wu is the only one who remains standing.
Eunuch: "Why aren't you kneeling? Do you have a death wish?"
Lady Wu: "There is clearly no one in that carriage!"
Eunuch: "When you see that carriage, it is equivalent to seeing the Emperor! And it is standard procedure that you kneel!"
When you first start out in a company, it is very tempting to try to stand out, to rebel against the status quo, and try to change the way things are run. However, this is something you do when you have proven yourself in the company and given the higher-ups a good reason to value your opinion. Before that happens, the shrewd thing to do would be to first integrate with the company's culture, observe and critically analyse, and then offer your input when you have enough information.
2. Steer clear of shit-stirrers and troublemakers.
The workplace can have a few childish troublemakers who just want to pit their colleagues against each other and watch the world burn. Lady Wu and her friend, Lady Xu, were constantly picked on by Lady Xiao, who thought the world of herself because she was the niece of the powerful Consort Wei, the highest ranking concubine.
However, it is very important to distinguish between a working relationship and a friendship. You don't necessarily have to like the people you work with, but you'll need to be mature enough to set these differences aside to get a project done. (Unless this colleague in question is clearly bullying you, see point 5). You don't have to take sides in personal conflicts between your colleagues, especially if none of this personally affects you in any way.
3. Don't add your own tinted analysis to what you don't know.
When Lady Wu was selected to star in a dance piece as a tribute to the late Empress Wen De, she got into trouble in front of the Emperor and the senior concubines for wearing the wrong mask (which was a set-up).
Since these are the members of the royal family with the highest authority, this is almost equivalent to a small fry getting in trouble with the CEO.
Consort Wei tells Lady Wu that she will be spared if she could describe the virtues of Empress Wende (who died way before Lady Wu entered the palace) in a poem within 7 paces. An important point to note here is that Lady Wu knows nothing about Empress Wende, so if she went overboard with her praises it could be considered smoking the Emperor; if she did not praise the Empress enough, it could be considered slander towards Empress Wende. It was a no-win situation set up by Consort Wei to destroy Lady Wu and the latter would require a lot of street-smarts to beat the situation.
Lady Wu out-manoeuvres Consort Wei by... nailing the lid on her own coffin. She called Empress Wen De "pitiful".
This would be the equivalent of you going into your new workplace declaring "I can do as good a job as the CEO can!" Newsflash: nobody cares. A newbie is, at the end of the day, an untested entity in the eyes of an organisation. You want to shine and rise up to become the new CEO? Work hard, prove yourself, and earn your colleagues' respect first before you brag about your abilities.
It is widely argued that Chinese period dramas, where the concubines plot and fight each other to death, offer very good tips on surviving in the workplace. I've explained why I don't agree with this.
Image from sohu
However, I have discovered that The Empress of China, in which I have criticised Fan Bing Bing's Wu Zetian as being incredibly unintelligent, and naive to be point of being childish, offers extremely good tips on what NOT to do when you're on your first job.
Ready? Let's go!
1. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
In the first episode, 14 year old Lady Wu enters the palace. As the contingent walks across the courtyard, an empty carriage symbolising the Emperor passes them and the contingent was ordered to kneel.
Lady Wu is the only one who remains standing.
Eunuch: "Why aren't you kneeling? Do you have a death wish?"
Lady Wu: "There is clearly no one in that carriage!"
Eunuch: "When you see that carriage, it is equivalent to seeing the Emperor! And it is standard procedure that you kneel!"
When you first start out in a company, it is very tempting to try to stand out, to rebel against the status quo, and try to change the way things are run. However, this is something you do when you have proven yourself in the company and given the higher-ups a good reason to value your opinion. Before that happens, the shrewd thing to do would be to first integrate with the company's culture, observe and critically analyse, and then offer your input when you have enough information.
2. Steer clear of shit-stirrers and troublemakers.
The workplace can have a few childish troublemakers who just want to pit their colleagues against each other and watch the world burn. Lady Wu and her friend, Lady Xu, were constantly picked on by Lady Xiao, who thought the world of herself because she was the niece of the powerful Consort Wei, the highest ranking concubine.
You must stay clear of people like Lady Xiao (in red).
However, it is very important to distinguish between a working relationship and a friendship. You don't necessarily have to like the people you work with, but you'll need to be mature enough to set these differences aside to get a project done. (Unless this colleague in question is clearly bullying you, see point 5). You don't have to take sides in personal conflicts between your colleagues, especially if none of this personally affects you in any way.
3. Don't add your own tinted analysis to what you don't know.
When Lady Wu was selected to star in a dance piece as a tribute to the late Empress Wen De, she got into trouble in front of the Emperor and the senior concubines for wearing the wrong mask (which was a set-up).
Since these are the members of the royal family with the highest authority, this is almost equivalent to a small fry getting in trouble with the CEO.
Consort Wei tells Lady Wu that she will be spared if she could describe the virtues of Empress Wende (who died way before Lady Wu entered the palace) in a poem within 7 paces. An important point to note here is that Lady Wu knows nothing about Empress Wende, so if she went overboard with her praises it could be considered smoking the Emperor; if she did not praise the Empress enough, it could be considered slander towards Empress Wende. It was a no-win situation set up by Consort Wei to destroy Lady Wu and the latter would require a lot of street-smarts to beat the situation.
Lady Wu out-manoeuvres Consort Wei by... nailing the lid on her own coffin. She called Empress Wen De "pitiful".
Ever heard the phrase "When in a hole, stop digging"?
Lady Wu tells the Emperor that even though Empress Wen De had 7 children with him, she doubted that he loved the late Empress. She argued, rather self-righteously might I add, that if Empress Wen De had to juggle between caring for her children and spending time with the Emperor, Empress Wen De would have had no time to write a thick book about feminine virtues, which Lady Wu had read prior to this. Hence, she concluded, and daringly accused the Emperor, that he only saw the Empress as just another one of the many women in the imperial harem.
It was later revealed that the Emperor did have a loving relationship with Empress Wen De when she was alive, and he really did love her very much. As I've mentioned earlier, Lady Wu knew nothing about Empress Wen De so it was not for her to describe the Empress in such a manner.
Now, imagine you built up an organisation and spent years and years reviewing and deciding upon the best procedures the company should be abiding by. How will you feel if some 19 year old intern, not knowing the rationale behind these rules of procedure, accuses the upper management of putting them there just to oppress the employees?
If you want to give feedback about any part of the organisation, it is your responsibility to have the plain, bare facts laid out, and to acknowledge where you may not fully understand an issue. Most of the time, your managers, CEOs and other superiors have to consider many things in the decision-making process, some of which are not transparent to people lower down the hierarchy. When in doubt, it is always better to clarify rather than form your own conclusions.
4. Don't brag about something you likely cannot deliver.
In the same conversation Emperor Taizong talks about how Empress Wende was the only woman who loved him. Having married him at a very young age, Empress Wende would love him whether he was a poor farmer or the ruler of the nation. He laments that no woman will ever love him as deeply as the late Empress did.
Being Lady Wu, of course she needs to stand up and say something stupid once again:
Of course, our Lady Wu gets royally embarrassed on the spot. "Do you know how old I was when I first killed someone? Do you know what makes me happy, and what makes me angry? You know nothing yet you want to talk nonsense!" said Emperor Taizong.
In the same conversation Emperor Taizong talks about how Empress Wende was the only woman who loved him. Having married him at a very young age, Empress Wende would love him whether he was a poor farmer or the ruler of the nation. He laments that no woman will ever love him as deeply as the late Empress did.
Being Lady Wu, of course she needs to stand up and say something stupid once again:
"Who says no one else will love you! I will!"
This would be the equivalent of you going into your new workplace declaring "I can do as good a job as the CEO can!" Newsflash: nobody cares. A newbie is, at the end of the day, an untested entity in the eyes of an organisation. You want to shine and rise up to become the new CEO? Work hard, prove yourself, and earn your colleagues' respect first before you brag about your abilities.
5. Know your rights as an employee and be ready to speak up if they are violated.
In every organisation there are bound to be socially inept morons who cannot comprehend how to get along with others, and insist on bullying their colleagues or telling racist/sexist jokes etc. It is very common for people to just stay silent and accept such abuse because they either do not know their rights, or are afraid of stirring up a commotion that will make them look bad. But basic human respect is something everyone has the right to demand, and I think everybody should have the courage to stand up for themselves should they be at the receiving end of abuse.
Hence if there is one thing Lady Wu did right in this drama, it was to stand up against an eunuch who denied her of prison food when she got locked up. The eunuch threw her food away, demanding she paid a bribe if she wanted the food which she rightfully deserved.
I believe many Singaporeans would have heard about the case back in 2013 of the intern at Encore Eservices getting physically abused by his employer. There are proper channels to seek help from should you ever be exploited. It is very important for young employees to have the courage to report, or even walk away from employers who do not believe in treating their employees with basic human respect. And personally, I feel I can better trust superiors who have no qualms about standing up for themselves because this is a sign they will do the same for their subordinates if their subordinates ever get exploited.
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It is rather ludicrous that the producers of this drama expect us to believe that this young concubine, who enters the imperial harem shooting her mouth off, behaving like a bull in a china shop, is shrewd enough to eventually become the only Empress in Chinese history.
Yet, I also find this realistic in today's society. It is expected that a 23 year old fresh graduate would not have the streetsmarts of an experienced adult who has been in the workforce for many years. Hence, it is common to see many of these graduates behave like Lady Wu does. This list is only a general one with advice that may seem common-sensical, but you will be surprised how many avoidable mistakes new employees can make.
If you have anything to add do drop me a comment below, thanks!
In every organisation there are bound to be socially inept morons who cannot comprehend how to get along with others, and insist on bullying their colleagues or telling racist/sexist jokes etc. It is very common for people to just stay silent and accept such abuse because they either do not know their rights, or are afraid of stirring up a commotion that will make them look bad. But basic human respect is something everyone has the right to demand, and I think everybody should have the courage to stand up for themselves should they be at the receiving end of abuse.
Hence if there is one thing Lady Wu did right in this drama, it was to stand up against an eunuch who denied her of prison food when she got locked up. The eunuch threw her food away, demanding she paid a bribe if she wanted the food which she rightfully deserved.
"Here are the rules if you want to eat: Pay a tael of silver for a bun, if you want salted vegetables with plain porridge that's one more tael!"
"If you want to starve me you better just kill me right now because you'll definitely be dead the moment I step out of this prison!"
I believe many Singaporeans would have heard about the case back in 2013 of the intern at Encore Eservices getting physically abused by his employer. There are proper channels to seek help from should you ever be exploited. It is very important for young employees to have the courage to report, or even walk away from employers who do not believe in treating their employees with basic human respect. And personally, I feel I can better trust superiors who have no qualms about standing up for themselves because this is a sign they will do the same for their subordinates if their subordinates ever get exploited.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is rather ludicrous that the producers of this drama expect us to believe that this young concubine, who enters the imperial harem shooting her mouth off, behaving like a bull in a china shop, is shrewd enough to eventually become the only Empress in Chinese history.
Yet, I also find this realistic in today's society. It is expected that a 23 year old fresh graduate would not have the streetsmarts of an experienced adult who has been in the workforce for many years. Hence, it is common to see many of these graduates behave like Lady Wu does. This list is only a general one with advice that may seem common-sensical, but you will be surprised how many avoidable mistakes new employees can make.
If you have anything to add do drop me a comment below, thanks!
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