I Used to Say, "I Don't Play Politics."
Looking back, I wasn't avoiding politics. I was avoiding one of the most important parts of my job.
For a long time, I wore that phrase almost like a badge of honor.
"I don't play politics."
If someone asked why I wasn't spending more time building relationships inside the company or talking to leaders outside my immediate team, that was usually my answer.
I wanted my work to speak for itself.
Close deals.
Hit the number.
Treat people well.
I believed that if I consistently did those things, everything else would eventually take care of itself.
Honestly, it felt like the professional thing to believe.
I wasn't interested in office politics, self-promotion, or trying to win people over with personality. I wanted to be known for execution.
Looking back, I wasn't wrong about that.
I was wrong about something much more subtle.
I assumed execution and trust were the same thing.
They're not.
The Conversation That Changed My Mind
Years ago, after a forecast review, one of my managers stopped me before I walked out of the room.
The conversation had gone well. We talked through a few opportunities, discussed some risks, and I left thinking it was a pretty ordinary pipeline review.
As I reached the door he asked one simple question.
"Can I give you one piece of advice?"
Of course.
He smiled and said something I've thought about ever since.
"John... people aren't questioning your deals.
They're trying to decide whether they can trust your judgment."
At first, I didn't completely understand what he meant.
I thought trust came from winning.
From quota attainment.
From execution.
Years later I realized he'd been talking about something much bigger.
Somewhere Along the Way, I Started Seeing Trust Differently
Enterprise sales isn't an individual sport.
It feels that way sometimes because every seller carries their own number, but every meaningful opportunity eventually depends on dozens of people who don't report to you.
Solutions engineers.
Legal.
Product.
Executives.
Managers deciding where to spend their attention.
When those people choose to invest their time in your opportunity, they're making a decision long before the customer signs anything.
They're deciding whether they trust how you operate.
That realization changed the way I thought about internal credibility.
It wasn't about being the loudest person in the room.
It wasn't about visibility for the sake of visibility.
It was about making it easy for other people to believe that if they invested time in one of my deals, I had done the thinking first.
That idea eventually became one of the lessons I explore more deeply in How to Build Trust Internally Without Playing Politics, because I came to realize trust isn't earned through image. It's earned through the small signals you send every day about how you think, prepare, and communicate.
Explore that lesson here:
https://forgeforsellers.com/pages/how-to-build-trust-internally-without-playing-politics
The Best Sellers I Worked With Rarely Tried to Impress Anyone
One of the things I noticed as my career progressed was how calm the most respected sellers seemed to be.
They weren't constantly reminding people how hard they were working.
They weren't dominating forecast calls.
They weren't trying to sound smarter than everyone else.
What they did instead was surprisingly simple.
When they spoke, their updates were clear.
When a deal became difficult, they owned the challenge instead of explaining it away.
When leadership asked questions, they'd already considered most of them before walking into the room.
None of that looked flashy.
It looked dependable.
Looking back, I think that's why people trusted them.
Not because they were perfect.
Because they were predictable.
I Was Measuring the Wrong Kind of Reputation
For years, I thought my reputation was built almost entirely on revenue.
Revenue certainly matters.
But after enough years, I realized people were forming opinions about me long before the quarter ended.
They noticed whether my forecast was reliable.
Whether I prepared before asking for help.
Whether I brought problems or thoughtful paths forward.
Whether I accepted responsibility when things became messy.
Those moments rarely appeared on a scoreboard.
They quietly shaped the amount of freedom I was given.
That's something I unpack much further in How to Build Trust Internally Without Playing Politics, because trust isn't usually built during the biggest wins. It's built through dozens of ordinary interactions that convince people they can depend on your judgment.
Continue the story here:
https://forgeforsellers.com/pages/how-to-build-trust-internally-without-playing-politics
Looking Back, Trust Bought Me More Than Deals
One of the unexpected benefits of building internal trust was that life became... lighter.
Forecast conversations became shorter.
I spent less time defending my opportunities and more time discussing strategy.
When I needed executive involvement, people were quicker to help.
Cross-functional teams responded differently because we'd already built confidence in one another long before the request arrived.
None of that happened because I learned to play politics.
It happened because I learned that credibility compounds.
Just like a customer decides whether they trust you before making a buying decision, your own company is constantly making similar decisions about you.
Not once.
Every day.
Forge Exists Because Someone Took the Time to Teach Me This
When I think about the people who most influenced my career, very few of them taught me tactics.
Most of them changed the way I thought.
Usually through a conversation that lasted five minutes.
A question after a forecast review.
A quiet observation walking through an airport.
A comment over dinner at SKO that stayed with me for years.
Those moments shaped my career far more than any methodology ever did.
Forge is simply my attempt to pass those conversations along.
Looking Back, I Was Using the Wrong Definition of Politics
If I could sit beside the younger version of myself proudly saying,
"I don't play politics,"
I don't think I'd tell him to become more political.
I'd tell him something much simpler.
"Don't worry so much about managing your image."
"Spend your energy becoming someone people naturally trust."
There's a difference.
One is performance.
The other is character.
One eventually becomes exhausting.
The other quietly opens doors you didn't even know were closed.
That's why this idea has become one of the recurring themes inside Forge. If this perspective resonates with you, I unpack it much more deeply in How to Build Trust Internally Without Playing Politics, where I explore how clarity, ownership, preparation, and consistency create the kind of credibility that gives you more freedom long before it gives you more recognition.
Read the full lesson here:
https://forgeforsellers.com/pages/how-to-build-trust-internally-without-playing-politics
These days, when I hear someone proudly say,
"I don't play politics,"
I don't immediately agree anymore.
I usually wonder what they mean.
Because in the healthiest organizations I've been part of, the people with the strongest reputations weren't playing politics at all.
They were simply making it easy for everyone around them to trust how they thought.
And looking back...
that's a very different game.