30 Comments

In tech, at least we have a cycle of life where new startups can take over.

In government, we have a cycle of bureaucracy that steals more wealth and freedoms until we reach communism.

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I work in a large government bureaucracy and hear these phrases and see these tactics daily. Sigh. This was difficult to read.

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Such an interesting comparison.

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Industrial complexes (i.e. military, academic) are the clots that arrest the flow of ideas, technology, and money throughout society.

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Traumatic to read. Ugh.

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Your posts are very refreshing and informative. Thank you.

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I didn’t realize that so many non-profits and government institutions are controlled by the CIA.

More seriously, I’m not sure why this particular post got folks so offended. A few callouts, but nothing that seems that controversial. Some typos—and writing on this platform myself, you should always strive for none/few as possible, but nothing that was more than a slight bump in reading (and none in skimming).

Interesting topic and a good continuation of the broader “modes” conversation.

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I worry about how this behavior crosses organizational boundaries as bureaucratic organizations wind up creating title inflation to go along with large organizations. Larger titles with large on-paper scope make these people easier to hire at other companies, spreading the problem around.

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I have always wondered if a culture of empowering teams to do small experiments/Beta launches helps with this problem.

Btw you have a typo "...how maNy people are working on your projects"

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fixed!

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Has this article been approved by the legal team? lol

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The lowkey Europe diss 🤫

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i almost wrote a paragraph about it haha. But Draghi report is real

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I invite you to sneak in that paragraph here in the comments... curious to hear your thoughts, as always

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Plus one :)

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another plus one, VVERRRY curious about your view on europe!

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Another plus one, I'm very curious about your view on Europe. :)

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So many typos in today's edition. The road to hell is paved with poor copyediting, apparently.

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i'm in writer mode, not editor mode

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typos likely intentional

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I find it refreshing to find typos! I'd take them over ChatGPT blogging any day

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>>> big technology trend occurs (example: AI and Europe)

I understand AI but what's Europe?

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Add to your list:

Ensure your decks have at least 45 versions and 50 pages, even though during the actual presentation you'll never get past page 3.

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Tech CEOs turned out to be bad at hiring, setting up incentives, delegating and managing. Since they can't introspect and recognize their mistakes, we get the founder mode fad.

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Saw a fast rising company founder go through just this, the disconnect....more like Meeting Mode.

The entire business became based on meetings, instead of customers which grew it. Even saw the bureaucrat mode power play - gobble gobble one of us - finding that the founder mode that grew the company didn't apply any more.

Scaling is so tricky, and why do these modes inherently have to conflict? For me, it's always power and control at play, on both sides.

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