Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality。。。

持而盈之，不如其已；揣而锐之，不可长保。

金玉满堂，莫之能守； 富贵而骄，自遗其咎。

功遂身退，天之道也。

Institution Imperative

From Buffett's 1989 Letter to shareholders - on "Institution Imperative"

(1) As if governed by Newton's First Law of Motion, an institution will resist any change in its current direction;

(2) Just as work expands to fill available time, corporate projects or acquisitions will materialize to soak up available funds;

(3) Any business craving of the leader, however foolish, will be quickly supported by detailed rate-of-return and strategic studies prepared by his troops; and

(4) The behavior of peer companies, whether they are expanding, acquiring, setting executive compensation or whatever, will be mindlessly imitated. Institutional dynamics, not venality or stupidity, set businesses on these courses, which are too often misguided.”

I'm now fighting my mini battle for independence and against the institutional imperative within our firm.

Note the word "imperative"...do you recall a certain spell in Harry Potter? Yes, the Imperius Curse: "Total control. I could make it jump out the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats..."—Barty Crouch Jr. as Alastor Moody on the Imperius Curse

There is great social pressure to conform, and I think a social norm created by "niceness" is even harder to break. If everyone stays late because everyone else is staying late, there is great pressure to wait and see if anyone else wants to go home. This is especially silly if we are staying just to stay, and no work waits to be done.

Also, the actions by those higher up are often governed by the unshakable Imperius Curse, while say that we need to gain efficiencies, many harp constantly on immaterial items (while some more hairy issues remains un-rectified cuz no-one wants to be the first to unravel the ball of hair..ewww this is even grossing me out).

Will risk be reduced by harping on immaterial low risk issues? Of course not. Does spending 2 days performing vouching substantially reduces risk? Hardly. Is it possible for everyone to go home at decent hours - sometimes.

Can I break social norms and not be viewed as a bastard? I'll try and see.