Chanakya Niti: 5 Types Of Office Colleagues You Should Never Trust
Riya Kumari | Apr 28, 2026, 16:50 IST
Chanakya Niti
Image credit : AI
The office is the only place where someone can say “we’re like family” at 10 AM and forward your private rant by lunch. That is why Chanakya’s advice still feels uncomfortable today. He understood one thing very clearly: people do not become dangerous when they hate you. They become dangerous when they know enough about you.
At work, trust is not a cute emotion. It is access. Access to your thoughts, frustrations, plans, insecurities, next move, weak moments, and the tiny things you say when your brain has left the meeting but your mouth is still employed. So before you call someone your “office bestie,” check if they are one of these five types.
The Colleague Who Knows Everyone’s Secrets
This person always has news. Who is resigning. Who cried after review. Who is dating whom. Who got a bad rating. Who said what in which meeting. At first, they feel useful. Like a human notification bell with better gossip delivery. But Chanakya would tell you to observe their tongue. If they bring you everyone’s secrets, they will carry yours somewhere else too. They are not close to you. They are close to information.
And the scariest part is they make gossip feel like bonding. You laugh, you share, you feel included. Then one day you realize your own sentence has travelled to people you never said hello to. Never trust a person whose mouth has no logout button.
The Colleague Who Praises Too Much, Too Fast
Real respect takes time. Fake admiration arrives fully charged.
“You are the only smart one here.”
“Honestly, nobody works like you.”
“You should be leading this team.”
Cute. Suspicious. Slightly sticky. This person studies what you want to hear, then feeds it to you like office prasad. And because you are tired, underappreciated, and running on caffeine and emotional damage, it works. Soon, you are helping them with their work, sharing your ideas, defending them in rooms they would never defend you in.
Chanakya warned against people who use sweet words to hide selfish intent. In the office, excessive praise is often not affection. It is a password attempt. They are not always lying. They may genuinely admire you. But admiration without boundaries becomes extraction. If someone makes you feel important too quickly, check what they are asking for right after.
The Colleague Who Is Always The Victim
Every deadline missed was someone else’s fault. Every conflict happened because people are jealous. Every manager is unfair. Every team is toxic. Every feedback is politics. At some point, even bad luck should file a harassment complaint against them. This colleague is dangerous because they do not want truth. They want witnesses. They will pull you into their version of reality where they are always misunderstood and everyone else is secretly plotting.
They bond through complaint. Slowly, you stop thinking clearly and start repeating their lines. “This place doesn’t value people like us.” Careful. “People like us” is often the entry gate to someone else’s drama subscription. Chanakya believed a person who cannot accept their own fault cannot be trusted. Because the day you disagree with them, you will also become part of the problem. Watch how someone talks about people who no longer serve them. That is your future trailer.
The Colleague Who Is Brave Only In Private
In the pantry, they are a revolutionary.
“This strategy is useless.”
“Someone should question this.”
“Management needs to hear the truth.”
Then the meeting starts. Suddenly, they become furniture. No opinion. No memory. No pulse. Just nodding with the seriousness of a person approving terms and conditions without reading them. These people are not always malicious. Sometimes they are just scared. But their fear can still cost you. They encourage you privately, then vanish publicly.
You speak up thinking you have support. They look at you like they are hearing the issue for the first time in this lifetime. Chanakya valued courage with wisdom. Not noise, not drama, but the ability to stand by your own words when it matters. Do not trust people who borrow your courage and return silence.
The Colleague Who Supports You Until You Grow
This one feels personal. They are warm when you are struggling. Present when you are confused. Helpful when you are behind. But the moment you get appreciated, selected, promoted, noticed, something shifts. Their smile becomes shorter. Their “congrats” comes with a full stop so cold it needs a jacket. They ask questions that sound innocent but smell weird.
“Why did they choose you?”
“Oh, you’re close to the manager now?”
“Nice, must be good timing.”
This is not hatred. It is comparison wearing deodorant. Some people can love you only when you are not ahead of them. Your struggle makes them feel safe. Your growth makes them feel exposed. Chanakya warned about hidden enemies, and in offices, hidden enemies rarely shout. They delay information. Copy your ideas. Forget your name in credits. Plant doubt softly. The danger is not one big betrayal. It is ten small cuts you keep calling coincidence.
The Real Lesson
Chanakya Niti does not ask you to become cold. It asks you to become observant. Be kind, but do not be available for emotional theft. Be friendly, but do not hand people your weak spots as welcome gifts. Talk, laugh, collaborate, share snacks, complain about Excel like normal civilized people. But do not confuse comfort with character. Because in office life, the person who destroys your peace is often not the obvious enemy. It is the person who once said, “You can tell me.”
The Colleague Who Knows Everyone’s Secrets
This person always has news. Who is resigning. Who cried after review. Who is dating whom. Who got a bad rating. Who said what in which meeting. At first, they feel useful. Like a human notification bell with better gossip delivery. But Chanakya would tell you to observe their tongue. If they bring you everyone’s secrets, they will carry yours somewhere else too. They are not close to you. They are close to information.
And the scariest part is they make gossip feel like bonding. You laugh, you share, you feel included. Then one day you realize your own sentence has travelled to people you never said hello to. Never trust a person whose mouth has no logout button.
The Colleague Who Praises Too Much, Too Fast
Real respect takes time. Fake admiration arrives fully charged.
“You are the only smart one here.”
“Honestly, nobody works like you.”
“You should be leading this team.”
Cute. Suspicious. Slightly sticky. This person studies what you want to hear, then feeds it to you like office prasad. And because you are tired, underappreciated, and running on caffeine and emotional damage, it works. Soon, you are helping them with their work, sharing your ideas, defending them in rooms they would never defend you in.
Chanakya warned against people who use sweet words to hide selfish intent. In the office, excessive praise is often not affection. It is a password attempt. They are not always lying. They may genuinely admire you. But admiration without boundaries becomes extraction. If someone makes you feel important too quickly, check what they are asking for right after.
The Colleague Who Is Always The Victim
Every deadline missed was someone else’s fault. Every conflict happened because people are jealous. Every manager is unfair. Every team is toxic. Every feedback is politics. At some point, even bad luck should file a harassment complaint against them. This colleague is dangerous because they do not want truth. They want witnesses. They will pull you into their version of reality where they are always misunderstood and everyone else is secretly plotting.
They bond through complaint. Slowly, you stop thinking clearly and start repeating their lines. “This place doesn’t value people like us.” Careful. “People like us” is often the entry gate to someone else’s drama subscription. Chanakya believed a person who cannot accept their own fault cannot be trusted. Because the day you disagree with them, you will also become part of the problem. Watch how someone talks about people who no longer serve them. That is your future trailer.
The Colleague Who Is Brave Only In Private
In the pantry, they are a revolutionary.
“This strategy is useless.”
“Someone should question this.”
“Management needs to hear the truth.”
Then the meeting starts. Suddenly, they become furniture. No opinion. No memory. No pulse. Just nodding with the seriousness of a person approving terms and conditions without reading them. These people are not always malicious. Sometimes they are just scared. But their fear can still cost you. They encourage you privately, then vanish publicly.
You speak up thinking you have support. They look at you like they are hearing the issue for the first time in this lifetime. Chanakya valued courage with wisdom. Not noise, not drama, but the ability to stand by your own words when it matters. Do not trust people who borrow your courage and return silence.
The Colleague Who Supports You Until You Grow
This one feels personal. They are warm when you are struggling. Present when you are confused. Helpful when you are behind. But the moment you get appreciated, selected, promoted, noticed, something shifts. Their smile becomes shorter. Their “congrats” comes with a full stop so cold it needs a jacket. They ask questions that sound innocent but smell weird.
“Why did they choose you?”
“Oh, you’re close to the manager now?”
“Nice, must be good timing.”
This is not hatred. It is comparison wearing deodorant. Some people can love you only when you are not ahead of them. Your struggle makes them feel safe. Your growth makes them feel exposed. Chanakya warned about hidden enemies, and in offices, hidden enemies rarely shout. They delay information. Copy your ideas. Forget your name in credits. Plant doubt softly. The danger is not one big betrayal. It is ten small cuts you keep calling coincidence.
The Real Lesson
Chanakya Niti does not ask you to become cold. It asks you to become observant. Be kind, but do not be available for emotional theft. Be friendly, but do not hand people your weak spots as welcome gifts. Talk, laugh, collaborate, share snacks, complain about Excel like normal civilized people. But do not confuse comfort with character. Because in office life, the person who destroys your peace is often not the obvious enemy. It is the person who once said, “You can tell me.”