42 Comments
User's avatar
Ryan Landry's avatar

My initial thought reading this was, would the Alpha storm out like that? But then upon finishing the cartoon I realized, oh this is actually more about the sigma than the alpha. I’m still a bit perplexed. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t the alpha try to save face somehow? *I’m aware that I’m probably overanalyzing this.

Coffee Guy Chris's avatar

The guy who stormed out was probably a situational Alpha. A real Alpha would have pushed back against Dag's challenge to the hierarchy instead of getting flustered and leaving. Not really enough information to determine the guy's actual rank, but my guess would be Delta due to the avoidance of conflict by storming out instead of bucking up.

Brian's avatar

If you want to be right at work, own your own business.

Phileas Frogg's avatar

"They hated Jesus because he told them the truth."

CMK's avatar

How can Sigmas be simultaneously high status and constantly rejected from hierarchies?

Vox Day's avatar

Because status is not entirely dependent upon hierarchies.

Abcdefg's avatar
2dEdited

How can the rock star be high status but constantly go from failed relationship to failed relationship...

CMK's avatar

There doesn't seem to be a direct conflict between being high status and having many failed relationships, like there between being high status and constantly getting rejected by the hierarchy.

Vox Day's avatar

You don't understand the purpose of hierarchies, then.

CMK's avatar

What else is status dependent on?

Henry H.'s avatar
6hEdited

The amount, or intensity, of forward-directed energy in an individual.

This manifests as the ability to direct the efforts of an entire room full of people, or even an entire nation, toward a stated goal or vision in the case of an Alpha.

In the case of a man like Vox, this very strongly forward-directed energy manifests in the form of many often highly ambitious projects which may bring ground-breaking results for the fields he works in.

Each subsequently lower rank appears to have correspondingly less of this energy. In the case of a Delta, for example, their level of forward-moving energy is fine for mastering a specialist discipline and getting the job at hand done very well indeed. But they go into "Roomba mode" in the absence of tasks being assigned to them from someone else.

Jimmy Slim's avatar

Comfort with direct conflict (not passive aggression, but straightforward aggression) and ability to see it through successfully is probably number one. A mandatory quality of alphas and sigmas seems to be that they are energized by conflict, whereas most people are stressed out by it. Though we rarely consciously think about it, there's something primal in everyone's brain that recognizes which men will cower and which could become a physical threat.

Also social/leadership skills, ability to read/understand people, and attractiveness to women.

BodrevBodrev's avatar

Where's the conflict? You can only fail many relationships if you have many relationships in the first place.

CMK's avatar

That's the point. There's no conflict between having many failed relationships and being high status. But constantly getting rejected from the heirarchy seems like something associated with low status rather than high status.

BodrevBodrev's avatar

Well, those failures are post rationalizations by other people. Particularly with relationships he might have gotten exactly what he wanted.

Abcdefg's avatar

I'm saying a sigma is high status because of his options.

Dag will be rejected right into another high power position.

CMK's avatar

I suppose that's one way to reconcile that.

Crush Limbraw's avatar

Maybe I'm missing something - not unusual for me - but doesn't this example illustrate - almost perfectly the shitshow we're living now - no one dares to speak up because of 'hierarchy'?

Government-Religion-Politics-Culture etcetc

The Old Testament prophets pissed off most folks and suffered their due reward.....from most folks. Following 'most folks' is a sure path to self-destruction.

Jimmy_w's avatar

It is not a matter of dare. Alphas and Sigmas inevitably butt heads. If there are two Alphas, they may fight too.

In the inverted corpocracy, a Sigma may fight against the Gamma-Women alliance, that is also inevitable.

Kev's avatar

Well said

Joe Katzman's avatar

Story as old as time. The average disciplined formation and what's behind it > more individually fit barbarians, barring unusual levels of technique/ tools mismatch.

And at the same time, Musashi's Carpenter applies in spades to the SSH and successful organizations. Making this the ORG-SSH keystone really unlocks it as a management concept. Looking forward to the book.

Tom's avatar

A man who dances to his own tune, should always have several dancehalls to choose from.

Jim Nealon's avatar

Familiar scene. Those who held their ground on stupidity had exit plans and backups, and left before the PIP or recorded "offenses" could be trumped up. One forced into early retirement had documented everything, and sued to devastating effect on management chain.

Doktor Jeep's avatar

Right about Omegas.

But they will come to know about the Alpha versus Sigma thing. And while the office has its hierarchy that lets it function with all those bravos, beta, and gammas, the omegas are in a position to actually get work done.

For this case that boomer alpha boss and all his faults would already be recognized, and that sigma standing up to him recognized as well. Sure they were not in the room but would have more awareness of what happened than those who were.

Omegas know which way to go: job security.

Faith in God's avatar

In a discussion about executive level conflict, does the opinion of the Omega working the front desk and getting bullied by his female coworkers matter at all? Omegas are too busy looking for their stapler or failing in workplace social groups to care that an Alpha is leading the business into a disaster.

Due to the fractal nature of the hierarchy, if an Alpha wanted an Omega on his team he would likely have a much easier time listening to him than he would to a Sigma because the Omega is zero threat to the Alpha's position. Think Court Jester type situation. Or Alexander the Great and Diogenes of Synope.

Vox Day's avatar
2dEdited

The Omega opinions are irrelevant. Omegas are reliably clueless so their advice is worse than useless.

JohnJ's avatar

Dag seems to be somewhat high in the company. Would it have been a option for Dag to talk to the Alpha in private in reach some kind of agreement that the Alpha can present as his? Assuming Dag would even think of this of course.

Vox Day's avatar

No. The dispute is an intrinsically public one.

Joe's avatar

Doesn't matter. Dag lost interest months ago, either the job, the company, or the geography. He weighed his options. Can't lose no matter what. Ultimate flex is he starts a consulting business, gets hired by his old company 2 years later to do what he wanted at five times his salary.

BodrevBodrev's avatar

No, I've been I'm my share of those. The boomer has wanted to fire him for months, that's the setup, Dag knows he's either being positioned for the alpha to wash his hands with him, or he's being fired outright. Either way, there's no point in playing.

BodrevBodrev's avatar

An alpha boomer is still a boomer.

Delred's avatar

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. Not using the marketing budget was the right call though.

Truman's avatar

This hits hard.

AA's avatar
2dEdited

Have the Hypergamouse Coffee Table books reached the US yet? Apologies for the impatience.

Vox Day's avatar

They're being shipped to the warehouse in the States now.

Captain Kipps's avatar

Conformance vs. Competence

Hoyabembay's avatar

Dag doesn't look like he wants to be stuck with those losers for long, anyway.