02/06/2025

Conformity Creates a Culture of "Brutal Ineffectiveness"

Some dislike conforming more than they like being employed

Brutal Ineffectiveness is what you get when, in addition to management systems that unconsciously reward conformity, the systems optimize for coercion rather than collaboration, producing more outright bullying and harassment.

The Weinstein Company was an example of "brutal ineffectiveness." So is Elon Musk’s Twitter/X, in a different way. The board of Uber made the determination that Travis Kalanick’s behavior was both brutal and ineffective and removed him. The Jim Crow South, apartheid South Africa and Putin’s Russia are other examples of Brutal Ineffectiveness.

Brutal Ineffectiveness is worst soonest for the people harmed, but in the end, it's bad for everyone. If we take the long view, everyone has a practical interest in changing these systems, even the people who benefit from them in the short term.

Please select this link to read the complete blog post from Radical Candor.