Comment by benreesman

You’re largely correct but I think your comment might not nail the root cause (not saying you don’t know this, just that your comment doesn’t emphasize it).

When a market is competitive, the things that matter are roughly: hard work, candlepower, and optics/neurotypicality/maneuver in that order.

When a market is fairly sewn up that order becomes roughly: optics, candlepower, ethical flexibility, hard work in that order.

The hard-ass nerds who don’t give a shit about corporate culture du jour are treated like royalty when someone might fuck your business up.

While “purged” is a strong word, I take your meaning, and whatever we want to call it, it happens when competition is largely pro-forma.

Human beings will do anything to avoid selecting on merit except lose. That’s just human nature. Being mad about it is like yelling at the wind, but compared to even a decade ago, I’m not sure how high I’d be holding my head in today’s competitive landscape for high-prestige achievement.