Midiocracy and the Purple Crocodile

MIDIOCRACY AND THE PURPLE CROCODILE: When bureaucracy becomes the real bottleneck.

In 2003, a Dutch insurance company aired a commercial that became legendary. A girl had forgotten her inflatable purple crocodile at the swimming pool. The crocodile was clearly visible, sitting right behind the front desk. Yet instead of simply handing it back, the attendant insisted on a series of forms, stamps, signatures, ID checks, and procedures — all while the crocodile stared back from two meters away. The message was obvious: rules for the sake of rules can make even the simplest task painfully absurd.

Over time, the Purple Crocodile became shorthand in Dutch business culture for pointless bureaucracy and processes that get in the way rather than help. Everyone can see the crocodile. Everyone knows what needs to happen. But the system says no.

That same absurdity lives at the core of what Swedish organizational scholar Johan Alvehus calls Mittokrati — Midiocracy — a growing dynamic where power concentrates in the middle layers of organizations. Instead of enabling strategy and execution, middle management becomes a gatekeeping structure that slows decisions, controls information, and keeps the process alive long after purpose is gone.

Senior leaders experience diluted strategy. Frontline employees feel powerless. Middle managers become custodians of procedure rather than enablers of progress. Autonomy shrinks, morale drops, productivity suffers, and yet everyone insists they are simply “following protocol.”

The problem isn’t middle management itself. The problem is when the system begins to protect hierarchy rather than outcomes. When control outweighs trust. When efficiency is sacrificed to preserve structure.

Recognizing midiocracy — and remembering the Purple Crocodile — gives leaders a chance to rethink how power flows, how decisions are made, and how much unnecessary process is costing the culture. Real change requires courage, transparency, and a willingness to climb over the counter and just pick up the crocodile.

Because yes — it’s right there.