Consilio

Emotive and Insight:

People identify themselves by their work. It’s time their work identifies them as people.

You pull into a parking spot. You sit in your car for an extra second before heading in. You exhale. You walk into the office and the glow of the fluorescent lights feels, even more, stark today. You set your bag down. The texture of your desk feels cold. There isn’t a single person that says anything to you on your way in. Even on a good day, you’re lucky to get a simple head nod. As you fill up your coffee, someone asks you how your weekend was. It wasn’t genuine -- they didn’t even look at you when they asked. Just another pleasantry to cut the silence and the quiet hum of the ice machine. You make your way back to your desk and start working. Your inbox already full. These messages share one thing in common; no emotion -- just requests and questions. Your only escape seems to be a bathroom break. As you walk down the hall to the restroom, your fingers glide along the wall. You even knock on another desk as you walk by to create enough noise in hopes that someone looks up. Nothing. As you’re washing your hands, the water never gets warm. You look into the mirror--the first face you’ve seen all day, you let out another exhale. Oh good. Lunchtime. You eat lunch at your desk. It’s a salad. You’re trying to eat better. You stare at your computer screen as you eat. You open up the news for a little entertainment while you eat but you keep the window-sized small in the corner of your screen. Just in case someone looks over your way. You want to be known as a hard worker. There’s an afternoon meeting scheduled. Ah, another status meeting. You walk into the conference room and take the chair you always take. It’s off to the side with your back against the wall, hm isn’t that a nice metaphor. It allows you to see everything in the room but not in a position of power so that participation comes optional. It feels like the same debates with the same people as last week. There’s no respect for hearing everyone’s opinions. Let alone any encouragement of people’s ideas. You sit still...almost frozen. But on the inside, you beg for understanding. For acknowledgment. The meeting ends. You leave the room with another exhale. You finish up the day. You leave at 5:15 pm. Late enough that you get credit. But so it doesn’t look like you’re cutting outright at the stroke of 5. You don’t want to be there anymore. You leave down the same long hallway you came in. Fingers brushing up against the wall once again. The same knock on the desk to say a subtle goodbye to the room. No response. You start up your car to head home. Oh good. Your favorite podcast. You get home and close the garage. You exhale.

Unfortunately, that’s the end of this person’s day but not the end of this story. The average American will spend 11,250 days at work in their lifetime. Every year, the average American will commute for 9 full days. Work is a ⅓ of a person’s life and that’s when we include sleep. This story represents just one of those days. And this story isn’t just sensationalized rhetoric. This is the case for millions of people around this country. 87% of Americans have no passion for their jobs and 80% are outright dissatisfied. That’s 8 out of 10 people. Here’s another: nearly half of Americans feel alone and feel like no one knows them well. The former Surgeon General has stated that loneliness is one of the greatest epidemics in our country and it’s our workplaces that pose the greatest threat. How is it that our world is more efficient than any other time in human existence; we have more technology and information at our fingertips than ever before; yet we work more, make less, take on more debt, take fewer vacations, feel more alone, and have less purpose. For the first time in our country’s history, this generation is worse off than the generation before it by not only economic statistics but by emotional wellbeing.

Our culture has an interesting way of reacting to these things though. Here are some popular phrases.

• “It’s called work for a reason.”

• “Why is everyone so entitled nowadays?”

• “You have it so easy, you don’t even know.”

• “If only you knew what it was really like out there.”

• “There are a lot of people that wish they had your job.”

Those phrases are meant to disarm and disengage. To reframe the situation to convince others what they feel isn’t what they really feel. Why do we continually choose fear over love? The true irony of those statements? The people saying these things, feel the exact same way as their employees. Overworked and underappreciated. Alone.

The future of work in this country will be lead with empathy not spreadsheets. Kindness not crafted narratives. Vulnerability, not capability. Love, not fear.

People identify themselves by their work. It’s time their work identifies them as people.

It’s time for us to change this story. And this story only changes with business leaders willing to lead with love. Building cultures based on trust and appreciation. Fostering good, honest communication. Looking to diverse people and ideas to create culture. A culture that embraces change together. 

This is our work. But more importantly, this is our health. It’s our life. And it’s our future.

Consilio. Love your work.