There's a saying that when there are too many boatmen, the boat goes up the mountain.
It's what people say when a gathering or an organization has too many managers — colloquially, when things have fallen apart.
But suddenly
I wondered whether I myself had been overlooking something.
If there are many boatmen, maybe the boat can even climb the mountain.
Maybe that difficult thing can actually be pulled off.
(Provided the boatmen have passengers, that is...)
Isn't that the more accurate way to think of it?
When you consider it, a boatman is not someone rowing alone for his own pleasure,
but someone who receives a fare from passengers and steers the boat for them.
Most problems inside an organization
don't begin with the superficial fact that one more boatman has joined.
The real trigger is the attitude existing boatmen have toward the newly arrived one.
(This time, from the opposite perspective)
The biggest yet invisible reason most (strong) small and mid-sized companies get caught in a vicious cycle is that as they grow, key internal personnel are replaced by former big-company employees (some members who weren't the initial setup or lead, but partial hires) or by acquaintances of existing staff. Of course, this applies to only a very small portion. But if the direction of the business has recently shifted — or is shifting — toward economies of scale, I think it's worth thinking about once.
The verification standard isn't "came from a famous company"; experience in a similar situation can be more useful. Or, provide the same human, material, and institutional support as those famous companies do...
This isn't saying that ex-big-company people are bad. It's saying that if you're going to hire one, they should be a setup member or a senior lead.
Most small/mid-sized companies have a problem less with resources or problem-solving than with problem recognition, definition, or the "start (0 to 1)."
In short, the emphasis of the saying
isn't about whether there are many or few boatmen, but about whether they want to go where they want to go, or where the passengers want to go. That's the real point, I thought.
PS
Of course, there are B2B routes where the destination is fixed, and B2C routes where you go wherever you're called.
So if, despite having customers, the route is still wobbling back and forth, it must be because there's a boatman who doesn't know which route he's on.
