You’re not crazy. The office really is political.

You can hit your KPIs.

Deliver the biggest project of the quarter.

Stay late. Be “professional.”

And still watch someone else get promoted because they know people.

In this episode of The After Five Diaries, we unpack office politics in work places, not the motivational LinkedIn version, but the real one. The alliances. The silent power blocks. The “let’s escalate to HR” moments. The gossip that travels faster than your appraisal form.

We ask the uncomfortable questions:

Is merit actually enough?

Are connections a cheat code or just strategy?

Why are women judged differently for playing the same game?

And if you refuse to play… are you principled or just naive?

This isn’t about becoming toxic.

It’s about becoming aware.

Because in many Lagos offices, performance gets you noticed…

but positioning gets you promoted.

If you’ve ever updated your KPI dashboard while someone else updated their network, this episode is for you.

Watch till the end.

You might realize the game was happening long before you now