If anything, politics is MORE of an issue in smaller companies, but it usually plays out differently. Be aware of what's going on and _be involved_ or prepare to get blindsided at some point.

Fair points there. Although I have worked for a number of very small companies (startups) that have been successful and totally incompetent, at least one to the order of having the CEO threatened with jail time by the authorities.

Strongly disagree. The smaller the company is, the more political it is. Because now there's no layer to appeal to or to inject sanity; it's the way of the owner or the highway. Being on the right side of the owner is the most important thing and if you're on the right side, you can be as incompetent as you want (see: son of the owner is an idiot, but is the second in command).

Sorry you’ve been burned by nepotism and incompetent leadership. That’s not the root of politics though. Politics is about decision making processes and power dynamics that emerge in large groups. This becomes difficult regardless of competence because power and control become decoupled due the bandwidth limits of single humans, and so the methods of influence and direction become more manipulative and/or more draconian.

Maybe you're right. If so, I guess I am one of a lucky minority that buck the trend!

depends on the small org. large orgs have a lot of people and a lot of personalities, processes, HR handbooks, you name it.

small companies have a handful of people, and if there is a clash then you're gonna have a bad time. in some ways this is good since you have only to lever or negotiate with 2-3 people, and can get facetime, but if you're on the shit-list it's not gonna happen.

You make a good point. There have been times an HR handbook / department would have been useful. At the end of the day it's a choice I guess, which kind of org you work in. HR departments can also be a bad presence, depending on what is going on for you at the time.