Because I've seen a lot of orgs of all sizes, people sometimes ask what happens to stress levels as the org grows? In fiction, big companies are high-risk, high

Because I've seen a lot of orgs of all sizes, people sometimes ask what happens to stress levels as the org grows? In fiction, big companies are high-risk, high-drama affairs. Not so much. In reality, very quickly the stress almost completely disappears. Instead of there being a bunch of things to stress over, there become a very few -- they're mostly hidden. As soon as you grow to even 20 or 30 people, members of the group start actively doing all they can to reduce stress. As you already know, the people who tell you that it's never going to work aren't your enemy, and they really want it fixed. They're doing their best to make your job productive and happy. I worked in a very well-known financial firm once that had just gone through several rounds of lay-offs. It was one of the most encouraging places I've seen. Whatever was suggested, people loved it. They didn't change what they were doing, but they weren't about to try things they "knew" weren't going to work, so they offered effusive praise and found good places to hide. Big companies may do cruel and inhumane things to their employees, but it's most always out of kindness, not malice. The operative rule is "no drama" -- which can many times mean "don't rock the boat". The two get conflated quite a bit.