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Penguin Logistics, founded in 1093 in Lungmen by the famous singer and Columbian rapper Emperor, provides personal security, cargo delivery, and occasional grey-area jobs. Initially seen as performance art, it built safehouses, partnered with MountainDash Logistics, and took contracts from the Lungmen government. It has no real business model; its success stems from Emperor's personality and charisma. Emperor loves the spotlight but not profit, making friends and enemies alike.
The company has little structure: apart from Emperor, all members are equal employees, hand-picked by him. Its loose culture lets employees work in their own ways, and missions often turn into brawls or chases. The author hypothesizes Emperor sees staff as employee plus friend, with orders followed through trust and belonging rather than coercion. The slogan is "Guaranteed Success."
Well-known employee Exusiai works for adventure and friendship, not money. The author argues Penguin Logistics's value lies in thriving despite lacking traditional corporate success elements. A brief industry boom followed its government contracts, but newcomers failed. Despite pay letting employees "get paid whatever you want" and preposterous compensation costs, the company still profited.
Penguin Logistics is a private logistics firm founded in 1093 by the famous singer known as Emperor, who serves as its founder and owner. Based in Lungmen, it provides standard services such as personal security and cargo delivery, as well as the occasional grey-area job. Most considered Emperor's founding of the company to be performance art at the time, but it made its name in Lungmen, built safehouses for employees inside and outside the city, entered into a partnership with industry leader MountainDash Logistics, and began accepting contracts from the Lungmen government.
Those who studied its business model found it laughably lacking in one; it expands on a whim, without apparent direction or strategy. Its success is credited instead to Emperor's personality and charisma. Emperor is a Columbian rapper and producer and collector of vinyl records, and tales about his flamboyant behavior—including defeating the King of Lungmen's underworld with his bare hands and coming back from the dead more than once—have made him nearly impossible to track down, the rumors forming an ideal disguise. Consistent throughout the stories is his personality: he loves the spotlight and surprising others but has little interest in profiting from it, making him many friends and many enemies. He often sends staff to help far-away friends solve their problems—perhaps the real reason he founded the company.
The company has little if any organizational structure; apart from Emperor, all members are employees of equal standing. Its operations are wild and loose, more akin to a rock concert than a company, and missions often turn into brawls or chases spanning the entire city. Emperor hand-picked every employee, encourages them to complete jobs in their own ways—sometimes aggressively—and the culture is loose and casual, letting employees use their strengths to the fullest. Assignments are full of surprises and danger, but the capable staff enjoy their work, and the company rarely fails to deliver. Its slogan is "Guaranteed Success."
The author hypothesizes that Emperor sees his staff as a combination of employee and friend. The positive culture rests not on Columbian-style people management, but authentic mutual trust and appreciation; employees follow his imperious orders out of that relationship and a sense of belonging, not coercion or personal gain. Employees do not seek the spotlight, though it finds them anyway. One of the best known is Exusiai, a lively woman, engaged with her work, who calls Emperor "boss" and rarely fails to turn vague instructions into reality; money is secondary to her—she works for the thrill of adventure shared with friends.
The author argues Penguin Logistics deserves its own entry, contrasting it with profit-driven organizations like Kazimierz's stratified model companies, Siracusa's exploiting famiglia enterprises, and Columbia's tech firms. Its value lies in how it thrived despite lacking traditional elements of corporate success, and in aspects contrary to traditional management.
When Penguin Logistics began accepting government contracts, a brief logistics boom followed, but most newcomers went out of business within months. Old newspapers from that time showed numerous ads claiming compensation equivalent to Penguin Logistics, while a full-page ad on the other side showed only Emperor's picture and the line "GET PAID WHATEVER YOU WANT." The company's annual report showed employee compensation that bordered on preposterous; more incredible still was how it continued to make a profit despite those personnel costs.
- PENGUIN - LOGISTICS
EPIGRAPH
Hey, you. Yeah, you. Drop whatever you're doin' and haul some goods to my buddies in Kazimierz. Yeah, that little package there. Payment? You take whatever you think's fair.
— Emperor, rapper and owner of Penguin Logistics
The private logistics firm Penguin Logistics was founded in 1093. Based in Lungmen, it provides standard services such as personal security and cargo delivery, as well as the occasional grey-area job that is best not discussed in polite company. Penguin Logistics is named after its founder and owner, Emperor.
In 1093, the famous singer known as Emperor founded Penguin Logistics in Lungmen, an act that most considered to be performance art at the time. Imagine their surprise when Penguin Logistics began to make its name in Lungmen, building safehouses for its employees both inside and outside the city, entered into a partnership with MountainDash Logistics, the industry leader in Lungmen, and even began accepting contracts from the Lungmen government.
People began to study Penguin Logistics's business model, only to find that it was laughably lacking in one. It seems to expand its operations on a whim, lacking any sort of apparent direction or strategy. The success of Penguin Logistics is not so much due to its business model, but a credit to Emperor's personality and charisma.
Emperor, Columbian rapper and producer, founder and owner of Penguin Logistics, collector of vinyl records... there are many tales about his flamboyant behavior, such as defeating the King of Lungmen's underworld with his bare hands, and coming back from the dead more than once, but actually tracking him down is much more difficult. The numerous legends and rumors have made it almost impossible to tell fact from fiction, forming the ideal disguise.
One thing remains consistent throughout the stories, however, and that is Emperor's personality. He loves the spotlight and surprising others, but has little interest in profiting from it. This carefree attitude has made him many friends, but also many enemies. Both Penguin Logistics's successes and troubles have much to do with Emperor.
He often sends Penguin Logistics staff to help his far-away friends solve their problems; • this, perhaps is the real reason that he founded the company.
■ Cover of Emperor's latest album, Penguin Logic, with his latest signature. Emperor's signature changes with his mood. The rarest is said to be a scorched bullet hole on an autograph plate. Emperor is many things, but no single thing is Emperor.
Penguin Logistics has little if any organizational structure; other than Emperor himself, all other members are employees in equal standing. Under the leadership of its mercurial owner, Penguin Logistics's operations are wild and loose, more akin to a rock concert than a company. Befitting Emperor's management style, many of its employees are also eccentric and capricious in their work. Unlike other logistics companies, who seek to deliver safely without a hitch, Penguin Logistics's missions often turn into brawls or chases that span the entire length of the city.
Emperor's temperament permeates every corner of Penguin Logistics. It is small wonder that his employees get along with him. He hand-picked every single one of them, after all. Emperor encourages employees to complete their jobs in their own ways, and such encouragement can be rather aggressive for employees who are not yet accustomed to how the company handles things. Naturally, the company's culture is loose and casual, a place where employees are able to use their strengths to the fullest in their work.
Given Emperor's connections and eccentric ways, his staff assignments are often filled with surprises, and more than a little bit of danger. His employees are more than capable, though. They enjoy their work, and such enjoyment has not impaired their ability to carry out their assignments. Penguin Logistics rarely fails to deliver, whether they are asked to provide security detail, escort an important item, transport bulky goods, or any other service. Penguin Logistics's slogan is "Guaranteed Success".
Emperor is not particularly concerned with how the delivery is done, leaving it in the hands of his employees.
To Emperor, the staff of Penguin Logistics are clearly more than just employees, but what this "more" entails, exactly, is a complicated question.
Emperor builds good relationships with his employees, like the latest trends in Columbian corporate management; he sends his people into dangerous situations, like a mercenary captain; and he stands up for his men when they get a raw deal, like the Dons of Siracusa. Yet all of these similarities are merely skin-deep.
My hypothesis is that Emperor sees his staff as a combination of employee and friend. The positive culture of Penguin Logistics is built not upon Columbian-style people management, but authentic mutual trust and appreciation; by selecting new recruits personally, Emperor ensures that his employees will carry out his will in their own ways when he gives his orders in his usual imperious way.
However, Penguin Logistics employees follow the orders out of their positive relationship with Emperor and a sense of belonging at work, rather than coercion or personal gain.
Unlike Emperor, Penguin Logistics employees do not seek the spotlight, though the spotlight has a knack for finding them anyway. There are plenty of interesting characters amongst them; some are even rowdier than Emperor, while others are
During my visit to Lungmen, I did not see any Penguin Logistics employees carrying out their tasks, but I did encounter Emperor himself on the streets. The diminutive Liberi seemed to have no regard for his stature, fame, or safety. He was yelling into a phone with a curious sense of rhyme and rhythm, causing the fans queueing up for an autograph to sway their bodies along to the sound.
"I told you already, our coop is through, leave me alone, ya heard?"
"No good, my staff's on vacation, gotta knock some heads—"
"Say what? Needless record player? I ain't never seen it?"
"Eight o'clock, at the Ends of the Earth, I'mma show you what for!"
I tried to speak to Emperor out of curiosity, but could not make my way through the crowd of passionate fans surrounding him. Still, there are many in Lungmen who are familiar with Penguin Logistics. Their descriptions have helped me form a picture of Penguin Logistics from a multitude of different perspectives.
...To recreate the incident, our reporters interviewed the man as he left the L.G.D. building after his interrogation. His version of the events, which he recalled with the help of L.G.D. officers, is recorded below:
"I—I went up to Sora and asked for her number!"
— The witness said you did a little bit more than just that. You went up with a whole group of gangsters. The Catastrophe Messenger whom Penguin Logistics was escorting almost got caught in the chaos.
"It's not like we got anything out of it! That Lupo with a scowl knocked us out before we even knew what happened, then she was standing there playing video games with a biscuit in her mouth, while the grinning Forte stuffed strange flyers into our hands..."
— Witnesses said that you tried to cause chaos with Originium explosives!
"I was framed! It was just a lit firecracker! A Sankta with a creepy smile stuffed it into my hand!"
the strong and silent type. Rumors claim Penguin Logistics even has a Lateran Sarkaz amongst their ranks, though I must say the veracity of the claim is questionable at best. One of Penguin Logistics's most well-known employees is Exusiai, a familiar face to many in Lungmen. She is described as a lively woman, very engaged with her work. She gets on well with her colleagues, calls Emperor "boss", and rarely fails to turn the vague instructions into reality. Money is secondary to her; she works for the thrill of adventure, and the joy of sharing it with her friends. While other employees do not necessarily have the same motivations, all of them seem happy in their jobs. Certainly, there is no hope of boredom when you work for Emperor. Some may find it strange that I am spending so much time to describe this chaotic mess of a logistics company founded by an eccentric rapper. For my part, however, I believe Penguin Logistics deserves its own entry in this book. I have seen many profit-driven organizations: Kazimierz's model companies are glamorous on the outside but highly stratified on the inside; Siracusa's famiglia enterprises extract every last bit of value from their employees in both legal and less-than-legal ways; Columbia's tech firms claim to be building the future, but what kind of future, and for whom exactly? Penguin Logistics's value lies not just in its unique culture and model, but in how it has thrived despite a lack of any traditional elements of corporate success. You may explain that with the one-of-a-kind nature of Emperor and the staff, but I feel that Penguin Logistics's true value lies in the aspects that run contrary to traditional concepts of management.
There was a brief boom in the Lungmen logistics industry when Penguin Logistics began to accept contracts from the Lungmen government, but most of the newcomers went out of business in a few months. During my time in Lungmen, I caught a glimpse of some old newspapers from around the time of the boom that were being used for calligraphy practice. There were numerous ads from logistics companies in the classified section that claimed to offer compensation equivalent to Penguin Logistics. On the other side of the classified section was a full-page ad with nothing but a picture of Emperor and the following line—GET PAID WHATEVER YOU WANT. The claim did not seem realistic. But a review of Penguin Logistics's annual report shows employee compensation that bordered on preposterous. The only thing more incredible was how Penguin Logistics continued to make a profit despite the personnel costs.
A Penguin Logistics newspaper ad. Applicants flock to Penguin Logistics, seeking their fortune. For his part, Emperor seemed perplexed at the sheer amount of applicants. "Get paid whatever you want" was not about the salary, but whether the applicant has what it takes to get paid whatever they want. Finding this too troublesome, Emperor changed the glass in the ad into a handgun, which immediately cut the number of applicants significantly.