Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The Real Cause of Office Politics (And How to Fix It) | Anne Raimondi

24 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:02

In this talk, Anne Raimondi argues that office politics stem from a lack of shared clarity about work, ownership, impact, and outcomes within an organization. When employees cannot see how their contributions align with the company’s purpose, they create their own narratives to prove relevance, which can manifest as political behavior. Raimondi emphasizes that people fundamentally want to feel they matter and make a difference, not to engage in politicking. She presents Asana’s approach to eliminating politics by fostering transparency and clarity: leaders should tell stories centered on solving customer pain points, maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, and reward direct, constructive feedback rather than actions perceived as political. By aligning work visibility, purpose, and recognition, organizations can reduce internal politics and promote genuine collaboration.

Chapters

I think politics come from when people don't have shared clarity on the work that they're doing, who's doing that work, how it's reaching the impacts and objectives and outcomes of the organization. Because then people start to create the, okay, well, if I don't know and no one knows how my work is impacting the purpose, then I've got to create my own stories and my own proof of that. I don't inherently believe that humans want to come together and spend their time politicking. I, I truly believe people wanted to show up and matter and know that they're making a difference. And that's also fundamental to Asana, is like providing that transparency and clarity, emphasizing that as leaders, the stories that we share and tell have to be those ones around solving customer pain points, staying entrepreneurial, rewarding and recognizing when people are giving direct feedback to make something better versus rewarding and recognizing what's perceived as political.