SASA

Well before I got sober, I just would have most lilkly went along with the situation and would have been a rat. Who cares, but now that I am sober I think my attitude is changing. I have 80 days today, but the honety thing is really hard on me right now.
I would need some advice from your guys. I was at a meeting today and was presenting some data that I gained with a collaborator. I mentioned that the data were received in collaboration with the collaborator and after finishing they asked me if I would have problems working in future with another person since they think my collaborator is not approriate. they did not make this statement because of the quality of the work I showed (which was very high quality), but based on his previous history.
So the people there are not directly my boss, but are higher ups in the food chain, so I know I most likly have to follow their advice if I want to get the money. So what would you do?
1. would you go along and change your collaborator (2 years we worked together and he tremendously helped me) and work with somebody new, using the collaborators results as a jump off base
2. should I tell my collaborator about what they told me and make him aware of this situation.
Any advice out there?

ClosetExtrovert

I can totally understand your situation. It's hard to live an honest life and still work in a corporation and play politics. Yes, it SHOULD be that way, but it isn't. I would work with whomever they paid me to work with...because...they're paying me. However, I see nothing wrong with saying your collaborator has been very helpful while you worked with him/her, but if they wish for you to work with someone else, you certainly can. And your collaborator likely knows if they higher ups are not happy with him/her already. That's not your problem.
Anyway, that's how I'd handle it.