organizational behavior

Oct 15

Tech Companies Build Internal Apps to Codify and Spread Company Culture

Major tech firms are systematizing culture transmission through proprietary software—moving "vibes" from implicit team osmosis into explicitly designed, scalable digital experiences. This reflects a scaling problem: remote and hybrid work dissolve informal culture transfer. It also reflects a control problem: companies increasingly want cultural consistency across thousands of distributed employees rather than relying on hallway conversations or onboarding variation. Culture has become a competitive asset worth engineering like any other product. The shift also signals anxiety about whether traditional culture-building works at scale.

theme-brand talent strategy organizational behavior competitive dynamics

May 11

Why Companies Keep Hiring Beyond What They Need

Source: Seth's Blog

Seth Godin applies evolutionary biology's "Red Queen hypothesis"—the idea that organisms must constantly evolve just to stay in place—to corporate hiring, arguing that competitive pressure forces companies into wasteful talent acquisition arms races. When competitors hire aggressively, you feel compelled to match them even when the marginal hire adds little value, creating a collective action problem where everyone loses. The cost isn't the salary; it's organizational bloat, reduced focus, and misaligned incentives that follow from growth-at-all-costs hiring.