There Is No ‘Them’

Didi and Lital open by chatting about football, college hockey’s imbalance, and high student ticket prices, then pivot to a core theme: people often blame “the company” or whole groups (“engineering,” “product,” “HR”) instead of specific individuals, leadership, incentives, or processes. Using examples from Rapid7 and cross-functional tensions, they argue that clear accountability—through tickets, defined owners, and triage—beats amorphous Slack channels and tribal “us vs. them” thinking. They discuss how understanding constraints and incentives helps collaboration, and note that some issues are systemic in large, successful companies like Cisco or P&G, whose DNA and machinery resist change, while startups lack “training wheels” and require more self-reliance. They also connect “us vs. them” to remote work and online behavior, advocating bridge-building and less isolationism.   Topics 00:20 Football and Hockey Talk 02:21 College Branding Rant 04:32 Us and Them at Work 05:53 Rapid7 Example 10:45 Accountability and Tickets 13:55 Politics and Group Labels 16:06 Collaboration and Leadership 22:29 Company DNA vs Individuals 26:04 Bigco vs Startup Reality 34:15 Remote Work and Division 35:42 Wrap Up and Goodbye