Companies as Alaskan Fishing Boats

I also like this analogy for another reason. It makes it clear that it's a job and not your identity. You are not a crew member. You are not IBM employee number 3329087. You're a human. So sure, you can serve on the boat, and be paid, but don't let that captain tell you your value. Your value is in yourself, not what you do working on a fishing run.

I think this way of thinking about work brings clarity to multiple phenomena we're currently witnessing, including unhappy workers, mass layoffs during downtimes, and the outsized accomplishments of Tesla and SpaceX.

So you have this tiny crew of total badasses. Everyone is a superhero at their particular role because the crew needs to stay extremely small to protect profits. The captain is a dictator. The mission is clear. And bad performances from anyone are immediately noticeable and immediately dealt with.

You hurt your back? Sorry, you're a great crew member, but you're not going out on this trip. You want to spent more time with your brother who's visiting? Cool, you're off the ship. This crew is for hardcore people only.