John Bull Profile picture
10 Jun, 7 tweets, 2 min read
I learnt with startups and small-to-medium enterprises (tech or otherwise) a long time ago that if the founder is a bit of a dick, the workplace culture will be poisonous or exploitative.

Culture comes from the top.
That doesn't mean there won't be amazing, lovely people there.

Simply that, when push comes to shove, their voices will always be overridden by the default dickishness from the top.
Productive narcissism is a very effective way of getting a new business off the ground, or turning round a critically failing one.

But it's a leadership style that creates a culture that eventually eats the companies it creates from inside.

It doesn't scale.
So if your ambition is to be a "founder" (which is a GREAT ambition) remember to learn not just from the successes of your favourite unicorn founders, but also to consider, with open and honest eyes, their failures as their companies grow.
Because the BEST founders find a way to build a culture of quiet leadership from the start, or acknowledge the need to pivot to one before the "move fast. Work hard. Be loud. Break things" culture becomes actively damaging to their company's most valuable resource:

It's people.
Anyway. That's my business rant for this morning.

If you're not sure what I mean about productive narcissistic cultures b's quiet leadership, or are interested in learning more, the CPD module I delivered for UCISA on this is available on YouTube:
I'm available for corporate weddings, birthdays and bar mitzvahs 😆

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More from @garius

10 Jun
Brewdog delivering an absolute masterclass in how NOT to respond to accusations of a horrible workplace culture today.
How it started: How it's brewing: James Watt tweet: This is untrue. The email came from our peUnite Hospitality reply to james, with screenshot of his ema
Read 6 tweets
9 Jun
Been doing voiceovers for @BattleguideVT again. This one was a particular gut punch to voice, knowing what happened next.

Final letter from Private Percy Huggins (aged 23) to his mother from the Western Front. Written December, 1914.

soundcloud.com/user-999984426…
Huggins was born a Hertfordshire lad (like me), in his case from Ware.

He was killed, on sentry duty, by a German sniper on Christmas Day 1914.

His mum, Agnes, kept the letter. The family still had it when @DanHillHistory was researching the Herts Regiment many years later.
Huggins is buried in Le Touret. The grave next to his belongs to Sergeant Tom Gregory.

Gregory was Huggins' platoon sargeant. He was killed moments later trying to take down the sniper who killed Huggins.

Gregory was a Watford man. 36 years old. Left behind a wife and 5 kids. la touret military cemetery in france.
Read 4 tweets
9 Jun
The only time a portrait of the queen is relevant is if we're talking about Dicky Attenborough throwing a whiskey glass at one then hating himself for it, in Guns at Batasi (1964).

A film about how the myth of Empire is poisonous to all it touches. Here:

It's a stonkingly good scene (thanks to Dicky) in an otherwise above average and quite heavy handed film.

He really captures the dissolution of a career army man discovering that everything he was taught to believe in was a convenient lie.

The original "are we the bad guys?"
And also, incidentally, the inspiration for the character of Higgins in Magnum P.I.

Bellisario's head canon when creating the character was that Sergeant Major Jonathan Higgins was Dicky Attenborough's character, after leaving the army.

(S'why Higgins is not Robin Masters)
Read 4 tweets
9 Jun
Actual LOL at the Mail declaring the Union Queen picture drama a 'woke' thing.

In 1933 the Oxford Union Society voted that they wouldn't fight for "King and Country" if it came to war with Germany.

Mind you, the Daily Mail didn't mind that. They quite liked this Hitler guy...
What I'm saying is that anyone who thinks student unions voting to do shit you don't like is either:

1) actual news
2) new

Is either:

1) an idiot
2) a fucking idiot.
If you're a right wing frothy boomer now terrified students are organising to destroy your beautiful country, then I suggest paying a visit to your nearest student union bar.

Order a drink.

You'll very quickly discover they're incapable of organising things. Even in a brewery.
Read 4 tweets
8 Jun
There's a whole gamer subculture dedicated to finding no joy in playing ANY game.

It's like they're on some holy quest for the Ur-Game. The Utopigame that will shit free lootboxes full of unicorns, get free DLC every month, and be entirely bug free at all times.

It's a bit sad.
They pop into EVERY Twitch chat the moment a game, DLC or patch is released.

"I've heard this game is so broken now."

"This game will be great in 5 years maybe"

Then sit back and expect the streamer to be:

"SHIT DUDE. You're SO RIGHT. THANK YOU. I will never play this again"
I honestly don't get it. I'll happily joke about bugs in EU4 and elsewhere, but these people get legit ANGRY about this stuff.

Or ANGRY when people don't suddenly agree to be ANGRY alongside them about a game.

Chill the fuck out.

Play stuff or don't play stuff. Your choice.
Read 4 tweets
7 Jun
I'm constantly amazed how many people seem to struggle with succession in CK3.

It's honestly not that hard to manage. There's a tonne of ways to both limit, and where necessary prune, your offspring.
Like sure, primogeniture is nice, but playing AROUND potential succession issues is both part of the fun.

It's also what important families spent a lot of time doing in the era the game covers.

It's a game feature, not a bug.
Celibacy, Taking Vows, Head of Faith appointments, early granting of titles, careful use of lovers and bastards.

All ways to control your succession.

That's without even considering disinheritance.
Read 5 tweets

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