There is no Law today.
But first an announcement – starting this Wednesday (18-Feb), you will begin getting the first season the Parables of a Warrior in your Inbox. Season One contains six parables.
Now the Mondays and the Natural Laws of Bullshit.
This week is not about a Law.
Today is about the ecosystem in which John operates.
Before principle, strategy, or doctrine, there is environment.
Environment shapes conduct more than intent ever will.
Click here to get to know John’s colleagues
Johnny records endurance indirectly: by noting what John deliberately ignores.
These are not commentaries on individuals. They are observations of patterns.
This is not The Natural Laws of Bullshit.
It is about understanding who brings them into existence.
The Illusion of Uniqueness
Every workplace believes it is exceptional.
New strategy. New structure.
New language to dignify familiar ambition.
Yet step into any meeting room, and the cast reveals itself instantly.
The Boss – performing certainty.
The Bully – mistaking noise volume for influence.
The Overthinker – refining clarity into paralysis.
The Vanisher – absent in risk, present in recognition.
The Fixer – repairing what foresight could have prevented.
Different logos. Identical patterns.
The Ecosystem
None of them is a villain.
All are adaptations.
This ecosystem did not form by accident.
It evolve;
from incentives, from fear, from fragmented accountability,
from performance rewarded in parts rather than outcomes.
Over time, roles harden.
Habits gain permanence.
Survival strategies begin to resemble personality traits.
The Historian remembers what the room prefers to erase.
The Burnt-Out Star conserves energy that the system once consumed freely.
The Lone Wolf guards precision from dilution.
What appears personal is often structural.
The Rotating Roles
And somewhere within this ecosystem stands John.
He does not eliminate characters.
He manages exposure.
He does not fix people.
He adjusts boundaries.
Because he understands something most ignore:
These are not “others.”
They are roles we rotate through under pressure.
On Monday, The Firefighter.
By Wednesday, The Fence-Sitter.
On a difficult day, The Bully.
On a convenient one, The Boss.
Awareness replaces accusation.
The Shift
Once you recognize the ecosystem, two things happen:
- You stop taking behavior personally.
- You stop participating unconsciously.
That is where endurance begins.
Study the species.
Notice where you adapt.
Observe where the system shapes you.
The ecosystem where John, The Dependable, operates is not fiction.
It is a mirror — catalogued quietly by someone who stayed long enough to see patterns repeat.
Read carefully.You will recognize your colleagues.
Read honestly. You may recognize yourself.
And in that recognition,
you begin deciphering how to become the dependable.
Click here to get to know John’s colleagues
Johnny’s Footnotes is a satirical instrument, infused with humour, for understanding organisational dysfunction, grounded in The Anatomy of Nonsense, also known as the Grand Unified Theory of Bullshit, finally documented so you no longer have to pretend it isn’t happening.
Meet John’s Colleagues. They are here (& almost everywhere).
Disclaimer: The Footnote is a satire — an observation, not an accusation. If it feels uncomfortably accurate, that’s just coincidence. You’re simply not important enough to be targeted.
Follow the Genesis of the Laws
