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Theory of Organizational Archetypes

or, Big Tech Animal Farm

In the workforce, and world at large, there are several types of people you'll encounter.

You can divide most people into the categories of Wolves, Sheep, and Foxes. The wolves ascend the ranks doing whatever necessary, the sheep do what they're told, and the foxes are the rare ones who stand up for what they think is right.

Once you understand the roles and where people tend to fall, you can better navigate the workplace. Here's a breakdown:

Wolves (5-20%, most prevalent in higher ranks)

• These are the executives of the company, Machiavellian personas
• Seek primarily to get promoted, gain & maintain status
• Don't care about occasionally burning other people, violating ethics or norms, causing negative impact to society, other businesses, or even the company's long-term prospects
• Support the current company mandate, notice & align with other wolves
• Generally fairly motivated & smart

Sheep (50-80%, vast majority of the company)

• These are typical workers, do what they're told, support The Current Thing™, their company, and their manager
• Avoid asking too many questions, rocking the boat, or standing up for themselves and others
• Mostly amoral, amplifying the positives and negatives of the environment around them
• Progress at a typical pace in the workforce, sometimes passed over, sometimes getting a lucky boost

Foxes (around 5%)

• Foxes are rare, but I believe in the nature of many people given the right circumstances
• Smart, motivated, and stand for what they think is right
• Able to hold their own ground against wolves
• Curious, ask questions, and don't blindly follow things
• Typically founders, true leaders, artists, visionaries, independents, etc.
• Can struggle to gain followers or convince people towards their causes, as it may go against the current things which taxes potential follower's social standing

Goats (well-intentioned but stuck)

• These are people who believe in doing the right thing, but are stuck in their ways, and may find themselves often screwed over by the system
• May think things are inherently cruel or rigged against them, complain or overly embrace victim narratives
• Get captured by certain ideas, philosophies, authority figures, etc., which define their worldview
• Advocate passionately for their perspective, tussle with authority, but even if they're right, people find the way they express themselves unappealing or too opinionated
• They might be too nice, too naive, too stubborn, too anxious, too pessimistic, etc. The Nice Guys, Incels, Neckbeards, grumpy Senior DevOps Engineers, neurotics, misers, curmudgeons, etc.

Pigs (small carve out, somewhat common in middle management)

• Similar to wolves in self-interest without regard for others, but rather than being cunning, they're lazy, incompetent, and gluttonous
• Want to consume as much resources from the company & others as they can with the least effort
• Gain and abuse power through luck, tenure, and apathy of colleagues/managers
• Pose more of an inconvenience rather than threat to colleagues and subordinates as they're easily understood and worked around
• Switch across companies or teams often to avoid being found out

Dynamics

• We all have aspects of these categories depending on context, and evolve; it's not a definitive single categorization but a theme. You might be 50% fox, 30% goat, 20% wolf, etc.
• Wolves are mostly the ones in charge at organizations, appealing to their bosses by (seemingly) doing what they want and expect well.
• Wolves can camouflage as innocent & kind ("wolf in sheep's clothing" is very common) or smart & humble team players (fox), making it hard to suss them out without explicit first-hand experience.
  • Tells include self-centrism & narcissism, displays of anger, undermining others, hostile approach to collaboration, backstabbing or dishonesty, and lack of earnest duty or commitment to others.
• Most visibly successful people in the world (billionaires, CEOs, celebrities, performers, politicians) are wolves, using this approach along the way, with the coolest and kindest ones being the most effective at disguise.
  • We each care about the various character trait tells differently. Some of us will be alerted to wolfishness where other's will have a soft spot, e.g. consider Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Trump, Ellen, etc.
• One of the bigger unstated goals of wolves is to limit the power of foxes, as foxes are a threat to their regime propped up by negativity, deception, and coalitions.
  • Wolves can't win fair public battles with foxes (e.g. a fox may publicly say "We should avoid making our products too addictive or harmful to people").
  • Disagreeing directly would expose their lack of virtue or reason, so they undermine foxes in private through negative memes ("[x] is hard to work with"), interjecting into promotions or performance reviews, manipulating re-orgs or project initiatives, and building alliances against them.
  • The highest levels of management (e.g., CEO) are fine with this game the wolves play, despite the value of foxes, as they want their inner circle to be mostly Yes Men (wolves & sheep). Even though it's unsustainable, it props up their reality for now.
• In the end, wolves are really the ultimate sheep, slaves to the demands of their manager, shareholders, public stock market, emotional pains, or some other external/socially-driven motive, instead of becoming truth generators and promoting net-positive approaches.
• Being a fox is generally underrated.
  • Most people who arrive at a similar framework determine that because the world is run by wolves, they must become a wolf to succeed, a sheep to not be alone, or a goat because the world is cruel.
  • Foxes often have the upperhand as their positions are more defensible and alliances are more durable. They can more reliably win. While you typically can't change the broader world or company, you can generate your own positive truth locally and be a beacon for others. Just have to avoid being taken down by wolves, or self-destructing (e.g. becoming a goat) in the process.
• Foxes make up <10% in the end, but in the early stages of an organization it could be upwards of 50%. Most organizations start with an enlightened vision or founders, but as they grow and mature, incentives often corrupt the culture.