Have you ever wondered at the scale which the modern companies of our times have achieved?
- Walmart operates more than 9000 stores and has 2.2 million employees!
- McDonald's operates 34000+ stores employing almost 2 million people
- The Indian Railways operates 10000 trains daily aided by its 1.3 million strong workforce
- and many more huge, huge companies...
What makes them tick?
The product/service which the company provides? Probably not.
The factories/offices? Cannot be as they are anyway replaced time to time.
The employees? nah! (however hard the employers try to convince otherwise). Employees retire and get fired to be replaced.
So, what is Apple or Disney or Ford or Sony? They did not end with their visionary founders or star employees and span over several products and over several decades! A corporation is a common thread which runs through several thousands of people and binds them together with a spirit of brotherhood across cultures and countries.
Corporations are simply myths, a set of stories which reside in the beliefs of the employees! Very similar to a religion or a cult which binds people together through mythical tales. As history bears evidence, religion is a fantastic tool to mobilize people. Wars have been fought over religion, homicides perpetrated and most recently terrorism justified in the name of the religion. Of course, religion also mobilizes people for good deeds like donations and charity work.
Next time you enter a workplace or buy a product or avail of a service, think of it. What's the story of that corporation? What binds together the people at that office? Is it just the salaries?
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