# Are cheaters and rule breakers more successful  in the corporate world?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cheaters-and-rule-breakers-more-successful-in-the-corporate-world/697321>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 3, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cheaters-and-rule-breakers-more-successful-in-the-corporate-world/697321 "2014-09-03T01:42:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-cheaters-and-rule-breakers-more-successful-in-the-corporate-world/697321/41 "2014-09-08T15:21:33Z")

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> [@WordMan](#):
>
> Yes, sliminess abounds with the right motivations, and money/power/business success can be powerful motivators.
> 
> But where _isn’t_ that true? If there are motivators regarding academic scholarship, scientific discovery, advancement in government or an organized religion, etc., won’t Humans act in slimy ways in various forms and degrees?
> 
> Are Business Humans more inclined to be slimy or realize more success because of it vs. a professor, doctor, government bureaucratic, scientist, etc.? I don’t see it.

I think the difference is that in a lot of ways, the penalties for being slimy in the business world are either minor or non-existent, and the rewards can be high. Also, many companies’ incentive systems inadvertently reward slimy and self-centered behaviors in certain positions like sales. For example, I’ve worked places where the way the sales incentives are set up, it rewards them for essentially selling our customers something that doesn’t exist, and then when the operations and IT folks can’t make it go, it’s not the sales guy’s fault. Pretty crappy, but these guys see dollar signs and they consequently fuck us regularly like that without consequence. The fault’s really with the system, not in expecting sales guys to not do what lines their pocket more.

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