17 Comments
Oct 6, 2020Liked by Slava Akhmechet

Strong complement to the Gervais Principle (https://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/)

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Oct 1, 2020Liked by Slava Akhmechet

When I initially read this I was rolling my eyes at the cynicism but I also found it hard to disagree with. A second read and I found it a refreshing take on the realities of working in a startup and with “idealists”. Everyone is optimising for how they look as individuals. We may not like it but it’s true. I made the mistake to assume otherwise but I’m Wiser now 😆.

Great post!

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I fucking cried over it. Story of my life, I can relate to each sentence!

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This is a great take on how corporations work. It's depressing but I want to ask if there are any theories to why this is the default equilibrium of corporations and not something meritocratic that rewards high performers for their contributions. I would imagine the latter and more fair system would make the world a better place. Perhaps it's because most people are not competent, and therefore due to majority rule, this is the system that came out of it.

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This is crushing. Have you read “Team of Teams” by General Stanley McChrystal? I don’t fetishize military lit at all. But this was an interesting model about keeping teams fluid and scrambling hierarchy. And a friend of mine who served under him attested to its effectiveness. I wonder if using a temporal team structure might do a better job airing this behavior out.

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"If you ever carelessly imply that some team may be doing something poorly, you will make yourself a target for every opportunist in the company." - Can you expand on this, why does it make you a target?

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