I’m one of those people who still watches the TV show Survivor. To be fair, I never watched the iconic show during its heyday in the early 2000s, but it became a household staple for my roommates and me during the pandemic.

Even if you haven’t watched the CBS reality-competition show, you know the motifs: the vaguely problematic tribal aesthetic, the gritty physical challenges and the show’s deified puppet master, host Jeff Probst.

What keeps the loyal viewers coming back for more is the social game. Players form (and destroy) bonds in the hopes of gathering enough allies to vote someone off the island.

This week, The Indicator explored how the professional experiences of Survivor winners helped them navigate complex social dynamics and snag the one million-dollar grand prize. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Services reports that the most common job of a Survivor champ is… a manager?!

That’s right. McKinsey consultant and Season 13 winner (and one of my personal faves) Yul Kwan says the key to success is “forging alliances and getting people aligned behind a goal and a strategy and executing against it. And that’s basically what management is.”

While the power of voting someone off the island may be alluring, Yul admits he prefers working together in the real world a whole lot better. And I’m sure it’s way less sandy.

Outwit, outplay, outlast,

🐚Em