Colored Ribbons

Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the greatest generals in history, and later Emperor of France, once said,

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”

Nowadays not many of us have to fight in wars or even serve in the military, where the use of such symbols as an indication of rank is wide-spread. Yet, probably all of us are part of some kind of system in which intangible benefits are used to boost morale, just like the proverbial carrot on a stick — and we make enormous sacrifices for them! The most insidious part is that they cost the employer or organization that hands them out very little or nothing at all. On the other hand, they reap enormous benefits from anyone who falls for this trick.

Napoleon was surely glad to have many soldiers willing to risk their life for a worthless ribbon, the same as the Nazi leaders were glad they could motivate their people to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the nation. For instance, Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels is on record with saying that the best a farmer could get out of participating in the war is getting back to his farm in one piece, which is not much of a motivation. So, you tell him it’s about the honor of the fatherland, which he has to defend, and feels “proud” for doing so.

Again, none of this did cost them much, yet Joe Average paid dearly for it. I also find it striking how brutally honest leaders of the past were compared to the sycophants that run the show in business and politics nowadays. Of course, they also knew that the common man wouldn’t get to read those words anyway.

In contemporary business settings, the colored ribbon spiel still works great, too. Supposedly, the deal is that you get paid in exchange for your labor as it is defined in your contract, but instead of playing fair, companies try to squeeze a bit more out of you. Of course, they don’t want to pay a dime more than the paper says.


So, what do they do instead then? For instance, they dangle an “employee of the month” award in front of you, hoping that some people fall for it and put in much more work than they are getting paid. This might save the organization from hiring some more people and costs them zilch. Or think of promotions! Some only give you a title and more responsibility, but neither more money nor perks. For some reason, though, those colored ribbons remain attractive.

Things don’t seem to have changed much since Napoleon’s days.