[dasil003]

The Gervais Principle is an awesome read, and I might even be convinced that it applies to a majority of workplaces, but that whole dynamic is one thing that people who work at startups are actively avoiding. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in startups, but it doesn't happen in successful startups (at least until >50 employees or so).

Also, fwiw, I wouldn't classify the Gervais Principle as street smarts. It's more like a parallel "bureaucracy smarts" that only makes sense in an artifically controlled environment like a large company. Whereas true street smarts are the kinds of things that would serve a street hustler just as well as an entrepreneur because they are applicable to all uncontrolled human interactions.

[nandemo]

You make two very good points. I basically agree with everything you say above. I just have to point out that my comment wasn't intended to be an example of "street smarts" itself, but rather challenge that the grandparent post was so.

[dasil003]

yeah I sorta got that but hijacked the response with my own agenda, hence the 'fwiw' ;)