Day 8: The Resistant Salmon vs. The Following Sardines

Some blaze a trail, while others stay with the school. Between the two lies a quiet, daily tension: to question or to comply.

Yesterday, we looked at emotion — the Exuberant Parrot’s bright gloss, and the Cynical Vulture’s heavy doubt. Today, we dive deeper below the surface. Into currents that pull us in directions we don’t always choose. Because sometimes, the real challenge at work isn’t about how we feel — it’s about what we dare to resist.

This is a story of movement, of courage and conformity, of the choice to swim against the tide or to flow with it.

🐟 The Resistant Salmon

They’re not oppositional by nature. But they question by instinct.

They speak up when silence would be easier. They point out risks others ignore. They opt out of performative enthusiasm, not to derail progress but to keep it honest.

When a direction feels wrong, they don’t hide their doubts. When a process feels broken, they push against it. Even when the room is full of nodding heads, they raise their hand and say, “I’m not sure this works.”

They exhaust people and themselves, but they also leave behind progress that others take for granted.

The Salmon isn’t trying to be difficult. They’re trying to stay aligned — not with the team, but with their values. And in doing so, they often carry the burden of friction: misunderstood, mislabelled, sometimes quietly resented. But also — when the dust settles — respected.

They don’t win every fight. But they don’t lose themselves either. And even when they swim alone, they do so on purpose.

🐠 The Following Sardines

They don’t hesitate. They move.

The Sardines are quick, responsive, and perfectly in sync. They know how to read the room, sense a shift, and adjust without hesitation. In high-stakes environments, their ability to align is powerful. They execute, adapt, and don’t waste time questioning.

But that very speed is also their risk.

They conform quickly and forget to pause. They echo popular opinions before examining them. They suppress discomfort for the sake of cohesion. And they often choose unity over clarity.

They rarely cause conflict, but they rarely challenge it, either. Their loyalty to the group becomes a kind of disappearance—not because they have nothing to say, but because they’ve stopped trying to say it.

When the team succeeds, they’re part of it. When it drifts off course, they’re still part of it — just more quietly.

Their strength is their ability to belong.
Their weakness is what they leave behind in order to stay there.

🔍 The Reflection

Every workplace has its Salmons — the ones who question, resist, and hold tension. And its Sardines — the ones who align, adapt, and protect the flow.

We need both. But both come with a cost.

The Salmon can burn out. Become combative. Isolate themselves in pursuit of something only they can see. The Sardines can lose themselves. They are so tuned to the collective that they forget what they believe.

So ask yourself: Are you swimming against the current because it’s wrong, or because you need to be right?
Are you going with the group because it’s wise, or because it’s easier?

And when the tide changes… will you know the difference?

📌 Did You Know?

Salmon are known for their epic upstream journeys — swimming for hundreds of miles against powerful currents to reach their spawning grounds. Their determination is awe-inspiring, but it comes at a cost: exhaustion, injury, and often death. Yet their return shapes entire ecosystems and leaves behind new life.

Sardines, on the other hand, survive through sheer coordination. They move in vast schools, sometimes in the millions, responding almost instantaneously to shifts in pressure and light. This synchronicity keeps them safe from predators, but also means that a wrong turn by one can send thousands off course.

In teams, too, direction and unity are never neutral. What protects us can also erase us, and what isolates us can also define us.

📚 References

• Groot, C. & Margolis, L. (1991). Pacific Salmon Life Histories

• Parrish, J.K., et al. (2002). “Self-organized fish schools: An examination of emergent structure in sardine behavior.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

• Sinek, S. (2014). Leaders Eat Last

• Harvard Business Review (2021). “The Hidden Risks of Groupthink — and How to Avoid Them”