Hierarchy is Dead! Long Live Hierarchy!

And here's the latest capsule from the Zuckerberg School of Management. This time, the Metaman gives us tips about hiring. 'I will only hire someone to work for me if I could see myself working for them (sic),' he said in a podcast interview. On the face(book) of it, the idea is counterintiutive, radically egalitarian and behaviourally bold. One assumes The Zuck is not only looking for people whose values align with the company's (read: his) but also someone he can imagine bringing a double coffee iced latte. Before you cry out 'Hierarchy is dead!' do also mutter, 'Long live hierarchy' since one can bet one's bottom bitcoin that the operative words in his sentence are 'if I could see myself'. In other words, imagine the reporting pyramid reversed - or, at least, flattened.

If this seems Zuckerberg likes hiring people who are not yes men and women - colleagues who are smart, convivial and brash enough (like Zuckerberg) to butt in and tell their boss, 'Mark, hang on, there's a problem in what you're saying' - consider this: he may be talking about people so aligned to his 'values' that there is no need for them to brown-nose the boss. They agree on everything anyway. So, anyone saying 'Mark, hang on...' is not someone Zuckerberg can imagine working for since such a disagreement won't arise if he could imagine working for him or her.