[matisseverduyn]

This example seems to be survivorship bias. Personally, if someone approached me to suggest backstabbing someone else, I wouldn't trust that they wouldn't eventually backstab me as well. @bear141 said "People should oppose openly or leave." [1] and I agree completely. That said, don't take vacations! (when Elon Musk was ousted from PayPal in the parent example, etc.)

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38326443

[jstarfish]

> I wouldn't trust that they wouldn't eventually backstab me as well.

They absolutely would. The other thing you should take away from this is how they'd do it-- by manipulating proxies to do it with/for them, which makes it harder to see coming and impossible to defend against.

Whistleblowers are pariahs by necessity. You can't trust a known snitch won't narc on you if the opportunity presents itself. They do the right thing and make themselves untrustworthy in the process.

(This is IMO why cults start one way and devolve into child sex abuse so quickly-- MAD. You can't snitch on the leader when Polaroids of yourself exist...)

> don't take vacations!

This can get used against you either way, so you might as well take that vacation for mental health's sake.

[jacquesm]

I had this exact thing happen a few weeks ago in a company that I have invested in. That didn't quite pan out in the way the would-be coup party likely intended. To put it mildly.

[matisseverduyn]

You were approached to participate in a coup and therefore had it squashed? Or a CEO was almost removed during their vacation?

[jacquesm]

The first. And it was a bit tricky because it wasn't initially evident that it was a coup attempt but they gave themselves away. Highly annoying.

[chris_wot]

Dear god that sounds interesting and yet terrifying.

[jacquesm]

That's pretty accurate. It could have easily killed the company too.