Those performative people are worse than useless. They take up critical bandwidth and add no real value.

An effective operational culture has methods for removing those people from the conversations that matter. Unfortunately that earns you a reputation for being “cutthroat” or “lacking empathy.”

Both of those are real things, but it’s the C players who claim they are being unfairly treated, when in fact their limelight-seeking behavior is the problem.

If all that sounds harsh, like the kitchen on The Bear, well…that’s kinda how it is sometimes. Not everyone thrives in that environment, and arguably the ones who do are a little “off.”