4 ms·
For all the talk about American individualism, American corporate culture is actually extraordinarily collectivist. The pervasive groupthink at all levels of th
by oofnik 4y ago
For all the talk about American individualism, American corporate culture is actually extraordinarily collectivist. The pervasive groupthink at all levels of the hierarchy is an effective survival strategy. It's quite depressing to read accounts of individuals who lived under the boot of various collectivist regimes, particularly the modes of thought and expression so prevalent and necessary in such societies to keep your family from starving, only to realize that they are more or less replicated in American corporate environments, for more or less the same reasons.
- spaetzleesser 4y agoWhen I was younger I spent some time in East Germany visiting relatives. From the inside most large corporations look like communist states with an planned economy. Tons of propaganda, a lot of phrases that mean exactly the opposite when used ("rightsizing" vs "layoffs"), refusal to name issues directly, appearances more important than facts, useless metrics, an emphasis on supervision instead of improving things and a leadership that pretends to talk for the underlings but is totally out of touch.