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I never understood why I always got so depressed reading LinkedIn, until I read The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao. And then I saw that LinkedIn consists al
by projectileboy 5y ago
I never understood why I always got so depressed reading LinkedIn, until I read The Gervais Principle by Venkatesh Rao. And then I saw that LinkedIn consists almost entirely of clueless people talking to other clueless people, and exclusively in posturetalk (these are Rao’s terms - “clueless” means something specific). And if you haven’t read The Gervais Principle, I highly recommend it, although it may bum you out.
- ljm 5y agoThis post, verbatim, would go viral on LinkedIn.
- Spivak 5y agoI sincerely hope it’s intentional because it captures exactly the intersection between HN and LinkedIn. 10/10 self-aware unawareness.
- labrador 5y agoC'mon, everyone gets a chance to speak in class without being laughed at. Be nice.
- projectileboy 5y agoWow, this little subthread… the irony meter of talking about HN culture just folded in on itself.
- muzani 5y agoI'm tempted to steal this and test it out.
- duxup 5y agoDo it man.
- aj7 5y agoPosturetalk. Like the term.
- kingcharles 5y agoIt's my new portmanteau of the week. Last week I saw "grimfutures" and adopted that.
- lopatin 5y agoI love the Gervais Principle, but only as a cynical joke that can sometimes be applied to real life. There's really no need to read the book. If you're interested in a laugh, just see the blog post [1]. The gist of it is that there are only three types of people who work in organizations: 1. At the top of the food chain are the sociopaths. Executives. 2. Below it are the clueless, the mid-manager who works nights and weekends out of a sense of loyalty to the company. Unlike the sociopaths and the losers (explained below), they don't have it within themselves to straight up leave the company for something better. To them, this is life. 3. And below that, are the losers. That's everyone else. The pawns in this little corporate game designed by the sociopaths and coordinated by the clueless. They won't be promoted. But unlike the clueless, they have a sense of freedom. They can go work for a competitor if it pays more. Or they'll have a real work-life balance, etc.. It (should be) no more than a humorous take on corporate culture. Don't try to take away any life lessons from this. [1] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
- projectileboy 5y agoI know the book is a bit silly, but I only partially agree with your assessment, because I haven’t ever read anything that better describes existence within most large corporations. Would you be willing to elaborate on what you think it gets wrong?
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y agoI don't think he gets anything wrong after the first essay. Everything after just sounded like a way to make a mountain out of a molehill in terms of an interesting essay.
- DHPersonal 5y agoThe first blog post about the principle was amusing and offered some basic structure to the disorganized quality of work life, but it was the application of the principle that started to lose me. The machinations of striving to move from one position to the next started to feel rather nihilistic and cynical, even for me.
- stjohnswarts 5y agoSay what you want, the smartest people I know as a professional are on LinkedIn, however they, like me, never post anything, it's just a profile to point people at for a quick overview of your professional experience. However the people that post on there all the time, okay I'll agree with you just don't throw everyone in the same dumpster fire please.
- askthrowaway 5y agoI thought I am the only one who get depressed everytime I open LinkedIn