Bosses are not natural
Paul Graham has posted an essay on the idea that human beings were not meant to have bosses. He argues that we, as a species, are simply not meant to be organized into very large groups. It goes against our evolution.
Watching employees get transformed into founders makes it clear that the difference between the two is due mostly to environment—and in particular that the environment in big companies is toxic to programmers. In the first couple weeks of working on their own startup they seem to come to life, because finally they’re working the way people are meant to.
The full essay is well worth reading and supports our feeling that we’re better without bosses.
Author: mitten
Posted: Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Category: Philosophy
Tags: better-without-bosses, evolution, graham, heirarchy, human-nature, paul-graham, small-vs-large, social-groups
March 22nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Yes and no. I started to have a difficult time with Graham’s essay about the point where he started drawing a line between the “caged animals” working for other people, and Founders of Important Entrepreneurial Powerhouses. Those seem to be his options for bad vs. good.
But as it happens, he works at one of the largest incubators in the country.
So he gets partial points in my book. Somewhat fewer from others, who summarize the essay’s stance as “I work with young startup founders in their twenties. They’re geniuses, and play by their own rules. Oh… you haven’t founded a company? You suck.”
But that could all be poor rhetorical framing.
March 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
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