Basically the title. These are people who are scheming constantly 24/7. They have hawk like Instinct, and they keep changing their strategies to climb the proverbial corporate ladder in college and work place settings. They reduce competition not by enhancing their technical competency but but resorting to manipulation, rumour mongering, gaslighting peers in college/workplace and in general being very shady. How does one deal with such people especially when they capture power? Would love to know.

Talk less and document more. Don’t gossip around cunning people. Maintain very strong boundaries and ensure to document your work and contribution. Do not react to cunning people’s politics- ignore it completely. Over time you will develop a good reputation and be known for work product rather than nonsensical gossip. People will avoid roping you in

That's an apt suggestion. one should follow this. I understand what the person is going through. I have been a victim of this dirty politics and so called friends who will back stab you the moment you turn your back towards them. Some will have the audacity to stab you from the front and will come out with a perfect excuse. While I feel that if you are letting others to do this to you, you are also to be blamed for the situation (you can be anyone), but sometimes, one is very naive, mostly when you are coming from a less" politics" background i.e., small towns. The mantra is - no body is your friend here and doubt everything that comes your way. This will make your life really sad but that's the way to survive.

Honest question; what do leaders and people in management value more- technical competency or syncopancy? In my limited experience it has mostly been the latter. You have given sound advice and to an extent I follow that, but I guess it has never worked for me atleast. It seems that quite often than not it's such class of individuals that succeed at the workplace. Honest and hardworking people always get mistreated by their superiors and nobody recognises their work unless they shout and tell the world. Law, in my humble opinion seems to be one profession where incompetence is rewarded more than anything else. Bear with me but I am just very disillusioned. If I could go back in time I would ask my younger self to consider not joining this profession because this profession is not about merit. It never was. People like me have no leverage in this profession because neither do we come from generational wealth nor do we have contacts/clout/social status. I try everyday to give my best in things that I have control over-hardwork and improving my art; just trying to be good at my domain, giving my 100 percent in whatever I do. It's an uphill task to maintain faith when the entire world seems to be conspiring against you. Thank you for your suggestions and for taking out the time from your schedule. Appreciate it.

You have to try and be ethical and deal with things appropriately for a long time (going through complaints procedures, highlighting and calling out instances of bad behaviour very publicly, supporting and being allies to those impacted by this). If all this doesn't work, you, at some point, have to play as dirty as them.

If you don't have money, power, or connections you can't actually deal with cunning people, you can only get subdued by them or avoid them, however avoiding such people is extremely hard because if it was so easy then we won't be calling them cunning and the trait wouldn't have been bothering us so much. I'm on the pursuit of getting either of three and then I'll start giving back to cunning people, without these three things I find it very hard to give back, because they always have a response which ultimately damages me more. But in some years I'll be better equipped.

Honestly, that's something I'm also working on. I can't just fall stoop to their level. It's not in my basic temperament to unnecessarily hurt people, but if given the opportunity to and the resources to exact a revenge I would do it for sure.... Because internally I know they deserve a taste of their own medicine...

Hey, I’m sorry you’re going through this. I’m a mid level professional and find myself in a similar situation. However, as they say this is not my first rodeo and I’m able to somewhat manage work despite the setting. Being indirect and subversive does not come naturally to many of us and it can feel quite disheartening to realize that there is no avoiding such people - unfortunately, my opinion is that one must learn to cope and (to some extent extent at least) play these “games” in order to thrive in the corporate world. A rule of thumb - don’t display anger / emotion openly unless the situation really warrants it. Calling out such behaviour openly with your boss or other seniors may be a last resort option, but often it unfortunately comes with the perception of pushing your own agenda forward. Check out Robert Greene’s work for some actionable inputs.