> We seem to forget that people are inherently social and need a sense of belonging.
As someone who used to work at a company that also was fairly well known for its 'cultish' culture, while I agree with your statement above, I also strongly believe that the modern corporate workplace is fundamentally incompatible with the sense of social belonging that humans need. Worse, many smart people take advantage of this need for a sense of belonging with the sole goal of making more money for rich people.
Early human social groups, namely the family, village, and tribe, were strongly cohesive. You were only "kicked out" if you had made some severe transgression against the group (or you had "come of age", and needed to start your own group, which is something else entirely). You were not kicked out the second the group's profits took a dip or it was determined you were dead weight and the group you could do better without you. But these days "fiduciary duty" actually demands the group leaders take a simple utilitarian viewpoint of whether they keep you in the group.
This isn't meant to be totally pessimistic. Some of my favorite times and best friends were at companies that had a great corporate culture with a corporate mission I believed in. But these actually tended to be more mature organizations that were honest about what they were doing: being a successful business that made money, was an enjoyable place to work, and created value for customers. It's actually the 'cultish' places I find that people get extremely bitter when they leave because they were sold a bill of goods that was never true to begin with.
Second this and i'm glad you described it so well. No matter how hard most companies try to create an atmosphere of "family" for their employees, it fundamentally rings hollow almost all of the time, and by definition it has to for exactly the reasons you stated. These are organizations that exist to make money for themselves and their owners/investors, not to support their staff through thick and thin, bad or good (as a family or tribe is almost morally obligated to).
Any employee who isn't a total fool should know this and the executives certainly do because they have to to keep their efficiency numbers and bottom line looking decent. So any claims to the contrary just sound forced, false and absurd because that's all the are, the employee equivalent of some corp also expressing loving platitudes to its customers
Example: during the pandemic I've seen several major banks and other corporations send out emails and publicity material with phrases like "we're all in this together" scattered around it..... Yeah. as if my own experience as some random individual customer or employee with limited resources and all sorts of personal struggles in any way relates to their main concerns as a multibillion dollar corporation.
So yes, comparing almost any company except a literal extended family business or a small startup staffed by a group of close associates and friends working together to a tribe or family group is empty nonsense 99% of the time.
> As someone who used to work at a company that also was fairly well known for its 'cultish' culture, while I agree with your statement above, I also strongly believe that the modern corporate workplace is fundamentally incompatible with the sense of social belonging that humans need. Worse, many smart people take advantage of this need for a sense of belonging with the sole goal of making more money for rich people.
Totally agree with this and you should always draw a line between "work stuff" and "personal stuff." There's definitely a dark side here. However, I do think there's value in making your employees feel welcome and wanted.
As someone who used to work at a company that also was fairly well known for its 'cultish' culture, while I agree with your statement above, I also strongly believe that the modern corporate workplace is fundamentally incompatible with the sense of social belonging that humans need. Worse, many smart people take advantage of this need for a sense of belonging with the sole goal of making more money for rich people.
Early human social groups, namely the family, village, and tribe, were strongly cohesive. You were only "kicked out" if you had made some severe transgression against the group (or you had "come of age", and needed to start your own group, which is something else entirely). You were not kicked out the second the group's profits took a dip or it was determined you were dead weight and the group you could do better without you. But these days "fiduciary duty" actually demands the group leaders take a simple utilitarian viewpoint of whether they keep you in the group.
This isn't meant to be totally pessimistic. Some of my favorite times and best friends were at companies that had a great corporate culture with a corporate mission I believed in. But these actually tended to be more mature organizations that were honest about what they were doing: being a successful business that made money, was an enjoyable place to work, and created value for customers. It's actually the 'cultish' places I find that people get extremely bitter when they leave because they were sold a bill of goods that was never true to begin with.