Gather round and I will tell you a modern day fairytale
About business.
Once upon a time, some people told a guy that his idea was great
and that they wanted to join him and start a business. They started
small with just themselves handling multiple roles then as the
business grow larger, they took on more staff and organized and
streamlined by creating specific roles and as they grew larger, the
bureaucratic portion gained more power and the business seemed to
lose it's way and was in danger of collapse.
They considered decentralization and reducing the bureaucracy but
as they were part of the bureaucracy and earned large amounts
directing the business without doing actual work, they kept
looking. Before long, another solution presented itself.
We will never know the deal that was made in the shadows behind
locked doors, but the bureaucracy was sustained. There were
whispers of bank loans or other financing methods. There were
whispers of corruption, intimidation and unfair market practices.
There were even whispers of Government interference. These were
quickly and viciously stamped out.
Thus artificially buoyed, the business grew bigger and bigger and
it became voracious. It needed sustenance to support the
bureaucracy which was what allowed it to grow but also continually
consumed it from within. It was a cancer containing a cancer.
No one noticed when it began to develop attributes. People started
speaking of it reverentially as if it were a real person or a
god.
And it grew. Cannibalizing other related businesses as it grew into
a monopoly. It grew into a being with many names and many faces and
it kept growing. Growing till it strained against its economic and
geographic boundaries. Then it stopped long enough to look over the
walls hungrily.
Then it went to war.
Its hunger had driven it and the people around it mad. In the
process it started consuming the remaining resources which it could
not previously consume. And the people walked into its fearful maw
with bright and smiling faces.
There have been many tales and they all end differently. In some,
it encountered another entity more powerful that destroyed it or it
was destroyed from within by people who refused to walk into its
mouth. In some others it couldnt conquer lands faster then it was
consuming itself and so died.
Could it have continued growing till it consumed the world? I dont
know. I dont think so. I hope not anyway.
Goodnight and Ill see you all in the morning.