Mean Street: You Lie. You’re Weak. And You Can’t Handle The Truth

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/05/12/mean-street…

Very interesting post.

I think that everyone is at least a little bit fascinated by the idea of being able - scratch that, being REQUIRED - to tell anyone precisely what they are thinking, with no self-censorship for the sake of manners, politeness and politics.

And it is interesting to me that McKinsey and GS - companies I only know by hearsay, but supposedly filled with bruthal performance reviews - are painted as so opaque by the columnist.

 
Best Response

Great post thanks for sharing. I'm not sure the world is ready for this, particularly our sensitive, pat me on the back, millenial generation.

To me, this is an ideal culture for a capitalist firm. Capitalism requires rational beings making decisions with perfect information. A culture like this would encourage both of these aspects. If everyone is completely honest, then no one will 'go along' with the boss when he has a bad idea just because he is angry/being a baby/inclined to make a decision for emotional reasons. As we all know, decisions that are grounded in rational thought are far superior to decisions grounded in emotions.

As for perfect information, a culture like this would be about as close as you can come to having perfect information. Real, honest feedback from your colleagues allows you to have perfect information to make the best decisions.

Of course, a culture like this is completely unrealistic (as is an ideal, capitalist society, but I'll save that for another post). Who could possibly survive in a culture where all emotional reactions are completely discouraged? I don't think many people would be able to survive in this type of environment.

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 

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