True or False? “Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war.”

Last updated on: November 1, 2019 at 4:56 pm by Dan Peterson

True or False? “Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war.” 2019-11-01T16:56:07-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

As anybody familiar with the overall story of “Kalila wa-Dimna” will immediately recognize, this fifteenth-century manuscript illumination occurs near the end of the collection.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

The very first book that we read in the Islamic Humanities class (IHUM 242) that I teach during both fall and winter semesters (and am teaching right now, have just taught this afternoon) is the eighth-century AD Kalila wa Dimna of Ibn al-Muqaffa‘. It is an animal fable that can be read — in fact, it almost certainly must be read — as a satire upon life in a royal court and on the perils and dangers that one faces from court intrigue and disingenuous false friends.

Relatively few of those in my classes will go on to be princes or princesses, but a number of them will eventually work in business offices. Some of those offices will feature at least one scheming false friend, one rival. So I thought that, even apart from its intrinsic merits, the Kalila wa Dimna might be a book to which members of the class will be inclined to return (or even to re-read) at some point later in their lives, as it will have taken on a specific meaning for them.

In recent years, I’ve begun my discussion of the Kalila wa Dimna with a quotation from Charles Duhigg, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at the New York Times. He is referring to 1982 book by Richard Nelson and Sidney Winter, of Yale, entitled An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change:

Most economists are accustomed to treating companies as idyllic places where everyone is devoted to a common goal: making as much money as possible. Nelson and Winter pointed out that, in the real world, that’s not how things work at all. Companies aren’t big happy families where everyone plays together nicely. Rather, most workplaces are made up of fiefdoms where executives compete for power and credit, often in hidden skirmishes that make their own performances appear superior and their rivals’ seem worse. Divisions compete for resources and sabotage each other to steal glory. Bosses pit their subordinates against one another to that no one can mount a coup.

Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war.[1]

[1] Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (New York: Random House, 2014), 162.

I hope that Duhigg’s judgment is a bit too harsh with regard to most companies. Still, I think that it contains some truth and that Kalila wa Dimna can provide at least some wisdom to apply in such cases.

Previous Post

October 30, 2019

"Exploring the Isaiah Scrolls and Their Textual Variants"

Next Post

October 31, 2019 "Paradigm Shift"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In what city was Jesus born?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nazareth Capernaum Jerusalem Bethlehem