The British Pacifist Arthur Ponsonby one said that “in wars it is the minorities that are generally right.”  In fact, throughout history, humanists have held that societies can be judged by the way minorities are treated.  The obverse of this is the notion of “the tyranny of the majority” in which by dint of numbers, a particular point of view wins.  It’s the logic of the Gadarene Swine.

The Corporate world is beset and burdened with this logic; its employees are bludgeoned into pulp.  It’s the bed of Procrustus.

While phrases like “the IBM Way” might seem laughable now, I believe that any of us would be hard-pressed to find a company of any appreciable size that doesn’t have its only homogenizing logic and culture.  Outliers are cut down to size.  Artists are told to put away their brushes.  Books are burned.

The ironic part is that in the long run, the corporate commissars and their willing executioners are the ones who suffer far more than the artists, outliers, minorities, and authors.  Those people typically find a place of happiness- they leave and do their own things.  It’s the former group that stays and silently suffers, sometimes with knowledge of misery and sometimes without.

Next time you are assessing an employee and you find yourself thinking “he/she is not a good fit,” ask yourself if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

In the long run the “not a good fits,“ I surmise, who will provide more value and radiate more joy than the good fits.