two speeds

FAST:
the nice thing about working for a big company is that they have a formal career path for MBAs. In other words, if you are good, they will give you the opportunity to make it really big, and really fast (and I would like to stress the word "if"). A select group of people who work their ass off for big gains.

SLOW:
if you don't have a certain type of formal qualification, whether an MBA or a Phd, there seems to be a limit to how far you can go, no matter how good you are. A lot of bright people are pretty much stuck in the middle, worrying about safety procedures, telephone training, fire drills, company car, my colleague has a nicer laptop, the menu in the canteen, the color scheme on a powerpoint slide ...

SO WHAT?
A discussion with K and U today during lunch makes me realise how hard it is for a big company to keep their people leaner and meaner. It was easy in the old days at the advertising agency, where everyone believed that they could change the world (the probability to get to the top was perhaps 1:70) and you could retain talent based on that promise.

But how do you achieve this in a large company? How do you create credible incentives if the probability to make it to the top is 1:40,000 ?