[qqj]

don't.

http://www.paulgraham.com/boss.html

do what you can to not work for anyone but yourself. even if it means reducing the scope of what you can work on and earning less.

and the hardest thing of all: find people you like, respect and trust - and stick with them. loyalty and fidelity above all else.

yes this sounds weird, but to me sleepwalking through life, being constantly distracted and dealing with office politics is by far more weird. to each his own i guess.

[6510]

That was a fun read. OT: It helped me dress up a strange thought (read: dumb idea) I had where I pondered what would happen if the person representing the group (10) was the last one hired, had the lowest pay, the least contractual security and can be fired easily by the group. Put the tree upside down. They would function like an elected representative or a janator. It seemed fun to have a bunch of young inexperienced junior hires managing the show. The next level in the tree could work the same way. Let the juniors hire someone to represent them. It would no doubt create tons of new problems but it would get rid of many of the classical ones (that seem to scale with size) In stead of managing people we could simply go back to managing work(?!)

[sojournerc]

I'm don't think there's a dichotomy here. I've had jobs with a spectrum of autonomy. I like working for an organization because I can focus on my expertise. I don't want to market, do sales, or chase investors. To each his own.

[qqj]

excellent, you've provided another great life lesson: seemingly benign but nonetheless false assumptions can have disastrous consequences. so much talent and potential has been lost to hubris.

remember: don't ever rely on intelligence alone when making critical life decisions, it will only serve to dissuade you. after all, it's not the reasonable men who change the world.