From Will Price (found through Brad Feld):
[T]here are two contrasting styles and hence models of people and companies.
The first model is idea-centric. Idea-centric people and companies are driven by the power of an idea. They view power as residing in facts, logic, analysis, and innovation. These companies are often flat, meritocracies where the best ideas win and the way to win is to make the most cogent, objectively correct arguments. [...]
The second model is person-centric. Person-centric people and companies are driven by the power of hierarchy. The merit of an idea is not driven by the cogency of the logic but by the power, position, and political support for the speaker. In this world, ideas definitely do not speak for themselves, but rather image and the perception of support (who supports this, what does the VP/CEO, etc think about it).
I suspect I already knew that at a gut level, but this is a great way to package it up. It might be a trifle simplistic – how do all these ‘person-centric’ companies keep from falling into the tar pits? – but it tidily explains the behavior of a lot of organizations I’ve worked with or for at some point or other and my own reaction to those organizations. Grad-school was often unpleasantly person-centric, which surprised me, because I was expecting a very idea-centric atmosphere.
I’m off to work for a start-up in part because I know it’s going to be a very idea-centric place to work. Although alarm:clock reports that recruiting start-up employees has gotten tougher, I suspect there’s many more people out there eager to throw all their time and energy into a compelling vision, and willing to trade off a little security to do so… the trick is in finding them.
