As usual, there's a fair bit of "just so" equivocating going here (success being the antidote to bitterness stands out as especially over-rationalized, as if an

As usual, there's a fair bit of "just so" equivocating going here (success being the antidote to bitterness stands out as especially over-rationalized, as if anyone was really wondering why the successful are so cheerful, ignorance is bliss Paul). That said, I like this essay a bit more than recent previous entries. The level of fierceness your workplace can tolerate definitely varies a lot, and on multiple axis, one of which is whether or not it's currently fashionable for people of your category to have an attitude. There's also a difference between "fierce" and "anti-social" which could be explored a bit more. And lastly, competition has been ramping up since forever, and with it comes unproductive, unnecessary fierceness and extreme focus on short horizons for everyone,even those not naturally inclined toward either, which is lamentable. Overall though, I'd say this does describe a certain set you are likely to find in tech quite accurately, although the correlation with success and wealth probably has more to do with investment preferences than any actual operational advantage created by this behavior. Believing in the need for hyper-competitive fierceness while also having influence over the direction of funding turns it into a self-fulfilling prophecy, when the reality is that luck and timing are much more impactful. No VC will ever just admit they're playing craps, and would rather everyone believe they have special knowledge that allows them to count cards.