The Devouring Machine
High-performance professions operate on a delayed gratification model. If you reach the genuine peak, you inevitably sacrifice a portion of your soul to the machine - becoming a perpetuator of what you once despised. It is the slow surrender to a system that demands the subjugation of your spirit. What baffles me is how so many brilliant minds within this machine accept it as a way of life, never seriously exploring alternatives - ensnared by the perceived social esteem and financial rewards.
This is particularly prevalent in accountancy, architecture, law, investment and private equity, and high-end consulting.
The model functions through a thick mid-to-lower layer, where early career progression is dictated purely by output. At senior levels, the defining trait shifts to one's ability to rainmake. Many forget that these organisations are, at their core, businesses - income generation remains the ultimate goal. The shortcut is rainmaking and networking - navigating the system with an untethered approach while maintaining just enough of a façade of corporate loyalty. Graduates often enter these fields under the illusion that technical excellence - just like in university - will be enough. In reality, success demands ruthless perception, subtle cunning, and a mastery of nuance. It is, above all, a game of people.
Like someone with high sexual market value, you know when you are "it" - you will be headhunted. People want you because of your connections - that is your bargaining power.
This game demands delayed gratification because the ascent is a gruelling slog, laden with immense opportunity costs - sacrifices many fail to evaluate before it is too late. What is particularly amusing is that those who reach directorship-level often only then realise the path ahead. They discover that there are salaried and equity positions - in some professions, equity is incremental, drip-fed in a manner designed to keep one tethered. The entire system operates as a devouring machine. Most do not realise what they are sacrificing until they are too entrenched and too financially dependent to leave. Sunk cost fallacy at its finest.
Furthermore, many forget that at the peak, you are entering into business with those at the top - binding yourself to them as a partner. An undertaking rarely considered in full. It is a binding of the soul, tethered for security - at the cost of one's soul and sanity.