Don’t backstab. Pretending to be someone’s friend and ally and then throwing them under a bus and climbing on them to make yourself out to be a hero, is generally a terrible and unnecessary idea. Think they won’t find out? Don’t count on it. Find another way to take the high road.

Don’t burn bridges. You never know when you’ll need someone, or how widespread their influence is or will become. It’s generally wholly unnecessary to take an offensive bridge burning position. If someone else burns their bridge with you, so be it. Just don’t be the one to start the fire yourself.

Talk up people’s positives while skipping over their negatives. It’s temping to seethe and gossip about someone’s shortcomings if you are jealous of someone, or to conveniently scapegoat someone for your own shortcomings or lack of long term career planning, but it’s part and parcel to both backstabbing and bridge burning. Just don’t do it. There’s long term damage that can result, with only fleeting short term gain for yourself in the moment while you’re doing it.

Stay loyal to people. Loyalty is rewarded. Disloyalty is highly self-destructive.

Be someone that others can trust. For some, trust is a given until broken. For others, trust is earned very slowly. In either case, once it’s broken, it generally shatters, but if you try hard enough to rebuild trust, you may earn a second chance (though not likely a third).

Help others even if there is no direct benefit to yourself. It takes so little energy to answer questions, provide referrals, open doors, etc, for people who need your help, even if doing so offers you nothing immediate in return. It’s the opposite of bridge burning, it’s bridge building. Your efforts will be rewarded in the future in wholly unexpected ways.