Beliefs that are more optimistic than realistic can cloud your vision and harm your career. Here are a few:
Job requirements have been carefully analyzed and established. Not so. For many positions the most accurate part of the job description is "Other duties as assigned."
Organizations want the best qualified person for the job. Wrong. They want a reasonably qualified person who is trustworthy, will get along with others, and won't cost too much.
Procedures must always be followed. Part of career success consists of determining where this rule applies. Many procedures are routinely ignored with no repercussions.
People admire candor. People may admire candor but they love discretion.
You should carefully consider how you would react if a colleague behaved in a particular manner toward you. No, you should carefully consider how others - not you - will regard your behavior. Your standard is not the only one.
If you produce great work, that will inevitably be acknowledged. If only that were true. In reality, the only thing you can be sure of is that if you produce great work, then you have produced great work. On the other hand, reliability often trumps brilliance.
It's not what you know, it's who you know. It's both. Contacts may get you in the door but they won't keep you in the room.
If you are technically proficient, you can let your people skills slide. In some jobs, that is true, but those occasions are becoming increasing rare.
Organizations have clear paths of progression for all jobs. Unfortunately, there are some jobs that provide no opportunity for advancement. Sometimes, that is formally acknowledged. In other cases, that is informally understood.
Organizations have human qualities. Ascribing human characteristics to an organization is tempting but unwise. Organizations are not fair, logical, or ethical. Only the people in them can ensure those qualities.
