Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to re: Bad vibes?

re: Bad vibes
Tom Brosz — (archived)

It goes without saying that the rules inside a company are often a lot more stringent than one would tolerate in outside society. But, like joining the Army, one volunteers for this, and accepts a certain amount of loss of individuality*. Nobody forces you to work for a corporation, and there are a lot of other options. Small businesses tend to be more free-flowing, and it's probably no coincidence that they are the source of most innovation, while a lot of large corporations tend to slide on the inertia of their accomplishments when they were small and new.

I still believe that space will be opened up not by NASA or Lockheed, but by some smaller outfit.

The large company I worked at years ago, 3M, was actually organized in quite a unique manner, consisting almost of many small "subcompanies" with a lot of autonomy, but still able to access the large corporation's resources. This left a lot of room for failures, but a lot of room for innovation as well. Although I was in a completely different division, I was there when they invented the adhesive that they used for Post-Its. I know how it works. Dozens of ideas a month poured out of 3M. Most were duds, but a few weren't. I have no idea if it still works this way.

In any case, this may account for a more positive experience on my part.

*The key word being "volunteer." I consider the military draft immoral.

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