Gather round and I will tell you a modern day fairytaleÂ…
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 couldnÂ’t conquer lands faster then it was consuming itself and so died.
Could it have continued growing till it consumed the world? I donÂ’t know. I donÂ’t think so. I hope not anyway.
Goodnight and IÂ’ll see you all in the morning.