I see workplace roles as falling into four broad categories on a food-chain spectrum: photosynthesizers, ruminants, carnivores, and super-carnivores. Many people assume their place on that spectrum is fixed by their job title or formal responsibilities, but that is not always the case. With self-awareness and deliberate effort, people can shift their position over time.
Let me begin by defining each category:
- Photosynthesizers
Photosynthesizers are the grass and plants of the office world. They quietly keep things running, clearing the air and making the environment better, even though their contributions are often overlooked. These employees typically keep their heads down, handle work that is not client-facing, and go home without seeking attention.
This group also includes unseen workers such as nighttime cleaning crews, landscapers, and others whose presence is noticed mainly through the results they leave behind. They usually do not create drama or challenge the status quo. As a result, they help work flow smoothly, but they rarely shape the culture or future direction of the business. Most are entry-level or lower-level employees with clearly defined duties and strict procedures, and many are perfectly happy in that role.
Even so, most companies would fail without photosynthesizers. The food-chain metaphor matters here: if plant life disappears, the rest of the chain begins to collapse. In the same way, when the people who quietly sustain day-to-day operations are missing, the entire organization starts to weaken.
- Ruminants
Ruminants are the cattle of the workplace. They do much of the visible day-to-day work, often relying on the support and skills of the photosynthesizers beneath them. Although they are frequently the people everyone notices, they rarely contribute new ideas or push for meaningful change. Instead, they follow the herd, do what is necessary to avoid conflict with the carnivores, and wait for their turn to be sent to the slaughterhouse.
Some ruminants have large, loud personalities, but they do not know how to use that presence to benefit themselves or the company. Like photosynthesizers, they often work within a defined role and a set procedure, though not always. Even when they are in a position to improve the workplace through suggestions or by setting a better example, they usually choose not to act.
That choice may come from not feeling empowered to make changes, being intimidated by supervisors, or simply viewing the job as temporary rather than a long-term career. Many positions can be filled successfully by ruminants, and that is not necessarily a problem. It becomes an issue when people in leadership roles still behave like ruminants.
Imagine a boss who shows up only to make sure no one is scrolling social media, yet otherwise has little meaningful interaction with employees because they are simply there for a paycheck and believe nothing more is required. That kind of passive leadership holds a workplace back. In my experience, most people I meet are ruminants.
- Carnivores
Raptors. Raptors are the aloof game changers of the workplace. They tend to work alone, watch everything closely, and step in quickly when they spot a weakness or inefficiency. After making the needed adjustment, they often disappear back into the background. These are the problem solvers, troubleshooters, and fixers who are willing to point out what needs to change regardless of their formal role.
Raptors usually make smaller changes, but they make them often enough that the overall impact becomes significant. I have known many raptors who held no formal leadership title. When I supervised at a fast-food restaurant, for example, delivery drivers would reallocate deliveries to improve speed, and food preparers would rearrange ingredients to make the workflow more efficient. A strong receptionist might identify bottlenecks in message delivery or client management and improve the process without being asked. I have always been a problem solver who prefers working alone rather than in groups, and I spent much of my early adulthood as a raptor.
Wolves. Wolves are more visible than raptors because they tend to work in packs. They like teamwork and often have the charisma to bring others around to their way of thinking. Like raptors, they can identify problems quickly, but instead of solving them alone, they organize others to address them together.
That team may be just one or two colleagues, a small group that reports to them, or an entire department. In each case, the wolf typically wants a clear plan before acting. Because they have team support, wolves can take on larger challenges than raptors, though their changes may take longer to implement. Their influence is also broader, and they often help elevate would-be ruminants into more active leadership roles. I have never enjoyed team projects, but I can step in and lead when needed. When I was a carnivore, that role was uncomfortable for me, but leadership is rarely about comfort; it is about doing what needs to be done and doing it well.
Rabid dogs. Rabid dogs are the employees who act on impulse, make changes for the sake of change, and often leave chaos behind them. This might be the team member who constantly disagrees with or gossips about others simply because they can, or the manager who changes expectations daily and belittles employees for every mistake.
Most companies cannot thrive for long with a rabid dog on the team because the damage spreads too far. In my experience, the work environment remains toxic unless that person is removed. If the rabid dog is a lower-level employee, the problem is often easier to solve, though waiting too long can allow the behavior to spread to others. When the rabid dog is the boss, the business is often headed for failure or, at best, a constant revolving door of employees.
- Super-carnivores
Super-carnivores are the sharks and lions of the workplace. I group them together because the main difference between them is whether they prefer to work alone or through teams. These are the true game changers of an organization. They are often found in top leadership roles, but not always.
Super-carnivores are raptors and wolves taken to the next level. They notice small problems, but they also anticipate larger ones before they fully emerge. They can take in the whole picture, break it into its parts, reassemble it into a better model, and then lead others toward that new vision.
That requires a rare combination of skills: identifying root problems, seeing multiple possible solutions, discarding weak options, and persuading others to follow. In both the workplace and the natural world, you may admire a raptor or a wolf, but you tend to stand in awe of a lion or a shark because they project power and confidence.
I have known many company leaders who were not super-carnivores, and I have also known classroom assistants, line cooks, and elementary school students who were. My oldest daughter, for example, showed shark-like tendencies from infancy. Before her second birthday, her daycare teachers nicknamed her “the Little Colonel” because when a child ignored the teacher, she would step in and herd that child over by sheer force of will. She also resisted being led herself, as if there were no one qualified to herd her.
Conversely, many heads of companies are content to let the machine run once it is built. They hire others to manage daily operations and step in only for the highest-level decisions, many of which are surfaced by the carnivores and super-carnivores around them. In many cases, those leaders once operated as super-carnivores and later stepped back to carnivore status so they could enjoy the results of what they built.
Why Every Level Matters
There is nothing inherently wrong with belonging to any of these groups except rabid dog. Every company needs people at each level in order to function well. A workplace made up entirely of carnivores and super-carnivores would be full of competing visions and constant attempts to redirect the organization. Very little would get done. On the other hand, a company made up only of photosynthesizers and ruminants would stagnate. If you understand the strengths and core values of the people in your business, you can hire and retain a healthier mix of each category.
It is also important to remember that a food chain is another way of describing a circle of life. In business, carnivores and super-carnivores should create the conditions that feed photosynthesizers and protect ruminants. That does not mean treating people like parts in a machine. It means valuing them as human beings, remembering details about them, having genuine conversations, and understanding what motivates them to show up and do the work day after day.
Moving Up or Stepping Back
So where are you on this food chain, and where do you want to be? If you want to move into a higher role, you typically need to operate like a carnivore or super-carnivore. Members of the other groups are less likely to show the drive and initiative that leads to promotion. On the other hand, if you are content to preserve the status quo and work quietly at your current level, the photosynthesizer or ruminant roles may fit you well.
Not everyone wants leadership, especially when a job is temporary or simply a step toward a different career. Sometimes a carnivore chooses to step back into a photosynthesizer or ruminant role to reduce stress or stay busy after retirement. As I mentioned earlier, some company leaders also step back from super-carnivore to carnivore once they have built something strong enough to run without their constant involvement.
Moving one direction or the other is often easier than people think, unless the goal is to jump straight to super-carnivore.
How to Step Back from Carnivore
If you find yourself in a carnivore role but want to step out of the spotlight and become a ruminant, make sure another carnivore is ready to take over. Do not simply change your work habits and leave the business with a leadership gap. There are usually other carnivores, or potential carnivores, who are eager to take subtle suggestions and run with them.
That approach allows you to keep helping the company improve without attracting extra assignments or promotions you do not want. Sometimes a simple observation is enough to set the right carnivore in motion. If you continue contributing in that indirect way, you may actually belong to the unnamed group I think of as the omnivores: game changers who do not want recognition and are content to look like ruminants, like wolves in sheep’s clothing.
How to Become a Carnivore
If you want to become a carnivore, the fact that you want that role may already suggest you have carnivore or omnivore tendencies. Moving up the food chain often begins with presenting your ideas to the right people. Instead of merely pointing out that something takes too long, propose a better way to do it.
- Ruminants present problems for others to solve.
- Omnivores present problems in a way that suggests they can help solve them with the right leader.
- Carnivores present solutions to problems they or others have identified.
Becoming a carnivore involves risk. If you try to change how things are done, you must be prepared for the possibility that your idea may fail or even make things worse despite your good intentions.
How to Become a Super-carnivore
If you want to join the super-carnivores, the first step is to establish yourself as a carnivore. You need the respect of both your team and its leadership before you can hope to influence an organization on a larger scale. The second step is building the confidence to tell leaders when they are the source of the problem.
You cannot drive change across an organization if you are unwilling to tell the raptors and wolves above you that they are off track or worse, acting like rabid dogs. Early in one of my careers, just about three weeks into a job, I asked for a closed-door meeting with my boss and walked through about ten things I believed were holding the company back, along with ideas for fixing them. The conversation was uncomfortable, and I was not sure I would still have a job afterward. A few days later, though, the discussion came up in a staff meeting as one of the best things that had happened because I cared enough to challenge the status quo and offer more than complaints.
Some things changed, I received a strong raise after only three months, and after that I could raise almost any suggestion knowing it would at least receive serious consideration. If I had had more than three weeks to establish myself as a raptor before that meeting, I might have jumped to great white instead of nurse shark. I eventually reached a higher level of super-carnivore, but that kind of respect takes time. It is not earned overnight, and some roles in a business will always remain subordinate to others, even when filled by super-carnivores.
It is also worth remembering that wanting to be a super-carnivore does not mean that the role is right for everyone. People have different strengths, motivators, and priorities, and some are simply not suited to that level of leadership. The role often involves long hours, mental carryover after the workday ends, and difficult decisions with serious consequences if they go wrong. Many people think they want that pressure until they experience what it actually demands.
Final Takeaway
Whatever role you choose to play, play it well and do your part. Do not be crabgrass when you can be wheat, do not be a stubborn goat when you can be a plow ox, and never be a rabid dog. You do not need to draw attention to yourself or take on leadership to work with pride and commitment. In the same way, leadership does not require becoming a dictator or a despot. Aim to be the best you can be in your role and keep the good of the company in mind while you are there.
Personal Reflection
I first wrote a version of this essay many years ago. Since then, my place in different companies has changed many times. I have moved back and forth among raptor, wolf, shark, and lion roles as I changed jobs, joined new teams, and took on new responsibilities. Through all those changes, two things have remained constant: my desire to be a carnivore and my commitment to helping others move up the chain if they want to.
If you lead a company, department, or team, pay attention to the people around you. Identify the carnivores and would-be carnivores who can help you grow into a super-carnivore. Just as importantly, recognize the photosynthesizers and ruminants who keep the chain alive through steady, often unnoticed work. Without the lower links in the chain, the upper links eventually starve.