You know a HiPo has achieved peak smugness and arrogance when they start including a digital image of their handwritten signature and a photo of themselves (either a professional headshot or some photo of them in "action") in email communications to their subordinates.
That is all. Just another small thing I hate about this place and will be glad to be rid of when I leave for a smaller company in January.
What other smug behavior rustles your jimmies at XOM?
When their calendars is blocked full of “meetings” and say theyll see if can free up some time.
Don’t forget ur pronouns
@2vvt+1ejvqLxo maybe sometimes, but from what I’ve seen “acting” titles are also given to someone who’s fully capable of doing the job well, but S&D wants to get one of their tagged HiPos into the position and “set them up for success” (at the expense of the “acting” person)
It is entertaining when a prospective HiPo gets an assignment with “Acting” in the title, such as “Acting Department Manager”.
You just know the person has one executive sponsor that has inserted a rocket up that a-s, but the other executives are split 50/50, half ready with lighters for that rocket, and half with extinguishers.
When they add the pronouns he/him/her/she to the email signature. Yeah good luck identifying yourself as her when you are a male or as him when you are a female, your career in this company will be over.
There is no CL34 HIPO. The term HIPO is only used for early career persons that have not reached executive level.
As a stretch, you could use it for young CL 28-29 but likely they are already or have been managers, so it is not a question of potential to be “hipos”. They are there!
@1qzb+1ejvqLxo
“ Some HiPos are a-s kissers. Some are just good at their job.”
Three decades of work at EM showed me that the job of HiPos IS a-s kissing.
As an average employee, you can make elsewhere 3x the money you’re making here? There’s a modest HiPo right there, together with some typical HiPo BS.
We had a guy in our group that thought he was HiPo.
He was asked to cover for our boss after lunch on a Friday, just 4 hours.
He changed his email title block to “Acting” Manager for those 4 hours.
@1qzb+1ejvqLxo Mind sharing your CL, salary, and YEE? I’m suspect of what you say regarding making 3x as an average employee elsewhere, even in Tech.
It is entertaining when someone thinks they are HiPo but they are not.
Please post examples of stupid things Non- HiPos have done when trying to seem HiPo
@1qzb Thank you for the insight. It was mentioned on another thread that CL 34 HiPo doesn't have much meaning anymore, just another rat race with limited cheese at the end. Congratulations leaving on a high note and making the most of your time at EM. That's the way to do it Best of luck!
It has been interesting to me that HiPos have been pegged as one type of action. I’m a HiPo, but personally I’m the opposite of flashy and self aggrandizing. I’ve become known for “being too humble”. I’ve been told many times to have an email signature besides “- FirstName” and have all these things and I continuously take the opposite approach, which seems to have elevated me further. And not because I want to stand out, I just couldn’t care any less about my email signature or my photo on CareerConnect or that I pinged someone 8 CLs above me with “yo” or “hey”.
I think though a lot of people think being a HiPo is some secretive cult within the company. It really isn’t. You find out about information ahead of time, but nothing that you can do anything with. So what that I knew about a reorg a few months before others, that literally does not make a difference. Some HiPos are a-s kissers. Some are just good at their job. I know a few that fall into both categories. Many of the ones good at their job are definitely smarter than me, I’ve got no shame in admitting it they’re damn smart. Most of them have been quitting. Most of the a-s kissing ones flame out eventually. They are given bogus job titles and always are told that they just barely missed the exec CL bump for one reason or another. They mostly end up quitting to use their inflated title to land a good job somewhere else to continue the con.
Ultimately though, I’m quitting come January 3rd, because being a HiPo at a dying company quite literally is paying me 1/3 of what I can make elsewhere as an average employee. A HiPo at XOM really just isn’t something that great. I actually told my sponsor, and she said that it’s a catch 22 because if I didn’t quit, I clearly wasn’t smart enough to realize the writing is on the wall for young people and should not be moved up. But if I did quit, my bullshitometer was working well and I had a clue about corporate strategy and things and is someone who should be given even more off cycle promos.
And for most employees who aren’t HiPo, you’re not missing much and in the same boat. Quit, get paid better. You’ll make more than a HiPo at XOM and who knows maybe you’ll be whatever version of HiPo there is at your new company. But every second you stay, you’re proving you’re not smart and don’t deserve the promotion here. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but it also does.
When someone in LT signs in letters and email with their first name only. Their attempt to be one of the common folk. Pfft.
@1gvc+1ejvqLxo How funny??? When you don't want to fall in NI/NSI you do what you have to do....lol
Dirtiest people
Well, when you get a JPG file as a reward. Hmm.
What about people putting the president’s award banner in their signature. Equally annoying. Especially when most of them are so incompetent.
Visibility is the new competent.
Are all HiPo’s told of the esteemed status? I know of one in UOG who is the poster boy for smugness….
People are desperate for visibility in the company. PERIOD.
This is the culture that the company promote, anyway...
So what did you expect ? Just look at LI post from senior management..
No other senior management post a lengthy text (bla bla) on their LI post...
Short and crispy message is enough...seems like they don't know how to use social media :)
To be fair there are plenty of low-potentials that are equally smug, and this is far from an Exxon-specific thing. I blame Influencer culture.