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I've always thought of most companies like machines. Some guy who is really passionate comes along and builds it, but eventually he/she leaves or loses interest
by learc83 13y ago
I've always thought of most companies like machines. Some guy who is really passionate comes along and builds it, but eventually he/she leaves or loses interest and the machine grinds away until it eventually collapses. Some machines are very well built and last longer than others, but without maintenance they'll all eventually collapse.
Basically most companies, like machines, are just an extension of someone's will. Human will is the only thing that can stave off the inevitable decay, and when no cares any longer, it's over.
The only way to delay this is to hire people who are competent and passionate, and give them enough autonomy so that instead of functioning as part of a machine that will break down, they can exert their will to fight entropy and keep it going.
- dman 13y agoBlessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
- Ovid 13y agoRelevant: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2213 http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2213
- drjesusphd 13y agoI think this point of view is biased from the perspective of an entrepeneur. You seem to be over-valuing the contribution of the founders, to the point where you're implying that everything that happens after the founder leaves the picture is all his/her doing. Would you make a similar analogy of nation-states? The Catholic Church?
- learc83 13y agoI'm sorry, I should have made my point more clear. The gist of what I'm saying is that if you treat people like machines, they act like machines. If your organization is setup as a strict hierarchy with zero autonomy, it will function as a giant machine, only kept going by the person/people controlling it. They alternative to this is to maximize autonomy for all your employees. Allow your people to be people. There is an innate human desire to create, to organize, to make an impact, to move from chaos to order--to fight entropy. Harnessing that desire is, in my opinion, the best way to run a company. I'll give you an example. A McDonald's employee isn't happy with his job, but one day he decides to make the best of it and just do the best job he can. He walks into work intent on making the best damn hamburger he can make. But then he realizes...he can't do that. His job isn't to make the best hamburger he can make, it's to make the exact same hamburger made by every other employee at every other McDonald's. In this case what we've done is to take a human and do our best to turn him into a robot.