➔ Atlas Shrugged Part II Chapter 2: The Aristocracy of Pull - When Connections Beat Competence
Previous: Part II, Chapter 1 - The Man Who Belonged on Earth
This chapter is called “The Aristocracy of Pull” and that phrase alone could describe half the corporate environments I’ve worked in. Rand wrote it in the 1950s but the pattern is timeless.
The Lights Going Out
The chapter opens with Dagny at her desk, watching the calendar turn to September 2nd. Colorado is dying. One by one, the talented builders who set up shop there have vanished into nothing. No goodbye letters, no forwarding addresses. Just gone. Ted Nielsen, one of the last ones standing, tells Dagny something chilling. He says that even Roger Marsh, who swore he’d chain himself to his desk rather than leave, who swore he’d at least leave a letter explaining why if he ever did go… left without a word.