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Totally agreed with this: "I've always felt that hierarchical, subservient thinking is strange" On the one hand, we are social primates. And primates gonna pri
by wpietri 3y ago
Totally agreed with this: "I've always felt that hierarchical, subservient thinking is strange"
On the one hand, we are social primates. And primates gonna prime. But I personally have very little interest in hierarchy; it mainly seems irritating and counterproductive to me. Obviously, looking around at the world, I'm a outlier here. But perhaps the strangest thing to me is how often neurotypical people can't even talk about the power dynamics that they are clearly participating in. You see it in big things, of course. But also in the small, as when the stated purpose of a meeting (e.g., "stand-up meeting") is wildly different than the actual purpose (a sit-down meeting where the manager gets to feel important and reestablish dominance over those lower down in the power hierarchy).
- systemvoltage 3y agoI think it was Marc Andreessen who said it that you’d rather be upfront with hierarchy than to pretend it doesn’t exist and have it form chaotically and without control. I remember reading about some flat team structure at Gore Inc. in the 90’s and it was an epic failure. Military relies on it more explicitly when you really need to get things done. In abstract sense, the military is more similar to companies than being different.
- wpietri 3y agoYeah, you might enjoy reading "Tyranny of Structurelessness". But there are other options besides "controlling hierarchy", "secret, denied controlling hierarchy", and "chaotic failure". Just as an example, consider a party. When I host, I am very definitely in charge. It's my space, it's my party. Friends will often help, serving as an intermediate hierarchical layer. But this hierarchy is mostly supportive, not controlling. I may slip into control mode when, say, I have a bad guest who needs to be ejected. But most of the magic happens not because I'm in charge, but because I've created a space for more dynamic interactions to arise without interference.