Yup! It's as simple as that!

Haha it just means that you were spot on with your reference! Should be proud!

That's where the word "generous" comes in! You can't go head to head in an office setting. What you CAN do however, is attempt to co-operate as much as you can, while doing your best to firmly maintain your boundaries.

As it says in the beginning, you can't negate the need for some form of strength. Whether its your leverage as a valuable employee / having alternative employment options / a boss's fear of the cost of replacing you should you quit / or whatever other form of a-symmetrical strength you have at your disposal - there's usually some form of bargaining power (strength) you can have.

If you truly have no cards, and your boss treats you miserably, you should be working to acquire some form of leverage, or leave the miserable bastard and pick your battles elsewhere!

It's referenced at the beginning of the article - but it's always great to plug it! Truly perfect.

Golden rule + Retaliation if you're being exploited + Self-Correction mechanism to cut negative feedback loops

Sounds like the perils of Emotionality: On

Right?! It's the culmination of hundreds of experts' research over decades, but what shocks me is that the Axelrod Tournament was held as early as the SIXTIES! Why isn't this being discussed more?

Even better - the more you spread the word about the Strategy the more it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If more people know about it, more people will be inspired to ACT like it, creating wonderful positive feedback loops.

This should be so high on the educational agenda!

This is amazing! They do a brilliant job of covering the Axelrod Tournament (along with the obligatory Christmas Truce story when mentioning GTFT).

Would have loved to see them do the deep dive into the differences and similarities between the tournament's conditions and real life (and how each one affects the game theory calculus in real world decision making).