How do you deal with office politics?

I think one way of dealing with them is to have everyone speak they have to say, voice it out with not interruption. Try to really understand each side and in some cases have a mediator that is neutral. All about communication differences constructively and setting egos aside and really trying to be on the same page.

It's a toxic culture so like everything else tide to culture it pretty much needs to be understood and solved top down. So if you are in an environment with too much politics you are pretty much forced to play that game wather you like it or not. But if you are a founder and see politics in your team you really need to get serious around it and solve that as soon as possible. There are low performers that play game of divide and conquer, they usually start bringing in politics and dividing team. The end goal is to continue being low performers but loved by everyone (their group) so they'll never get fired. They are extremely bad for your company because they bring performance of the whole team down. And on the other hand, the only thing that can demotivate a good employee is to tolerate a bad one. So if you have this problem solve it as soon as possible, startup is not a place for those types of people, and they'll even feel better in an Enterprise. You are not a match, no matter how experienced and "good" they are.

From my experience politics is always something that exists in companies and the first step to navigating it is to be aware of it. It doesn't always have to be a bad thing, it just is :) Especially in large corporations it is about 50 % of the job to understand the politics and roll with it and carve out your own spot. If the company culture and the environment is toxic, because people engage in bad politics I would leave, but that's a different conversation. Hope that helps :)

Have inflexible rules. If a company doesn't fit, leave. If you can't leave and find a new opportunity, work on yourself. You don't nee to be a successful entrepreneur to be Independent. Have the right skills, learn continuously, and you'll always have the choice.