Everyone Says I'm a Sigma

A reader asks the Sigma about his employment prospects

Everyone believes I’m a sigma while I am still not sure but analysis of performance reviews, interactions with others, ability to move to new environments, success with women before marriage, etcetera suggests that they are right. A new Alpha has been hired by my organization in a more senior position than I am and has asked if I’m able to curb my tendencies to insist that I’m right and fighting for what I care about in order to work better in the hierarchy to gets things done and be more effective. He brings up valid concerns of me still feeling authentic, transparent, and dealing with the frustration of bringing people along instead of just solving it first meeting and moving on. A change in organization is in the works and he is looking at how I fit into it. How would you advise me to deal with the hierarchy in order to succeed?

Now, I don’t know the first thing about this guy, other than he sent me this email. And while he may well be the Sigma that everyone says he is, let’s face it, the concept has been a bit misconstrued by more than a few people in the process of going globally viral.

And there are a few, shall we say, banners of a deeply roseate hue.

• 11 self-references in a single paragraph.

• A tendency to insist that he is right.

• A tendency to fight for what he cares about.

• A self-concern about “feeling authentic”.

• He’s apparently disclined to move on.

• He’s asking me about his own fucking job.

• The rambling tone and general sense of near-incoherency.

Anyhow, I responded to his email at face value, since I am not the Sigma Police.

If you’re genuinely a Sigma, the answer is no and you should move on without hesitation, as will be your natural inclination. If you’re actually a high-performance Gamma, which is possible given your apparent concerns about insisting that you’re right and feeling authentic, then you can probably control yourself well enough to make it work. Sigmas always wear out their welcome and move on. If that’s your pattern, then you should be prepared for that.

My heuristic here was pretty simple. If his response was: “yeah, what was I thinking? Obviously it’s time to move on again!” then he just might actually be a Sigma. If, on the other hand, he came up with some excuse to not make any changes, he’s definitely a Gamma of one sort or another.

Care to place any bets?

Here was his response.

I’m always prepared to move on because I know I have worn out my welcome before. However, I do like the organization and people I work with currently over all, or should say they are better than I normally deal with and have focused on the mission so far. The possibility of me being a high performing Gamma is not to be ignored also. Both are things to be considered.

Verdict: GAMMA

He has no desire to move on and his problems with the hierarchy are behavioral, not fundamental. He just needs to shut up, listen to his Alpha’s advice, and he’ll be fine.