The Corporate Dystopia

Function: The BIS is responsible for sensitivity to punishment, non-reward, and novel situations. It regulates avoidance behavior.
Emotional Responses: It is associated with feelings of anxiety, fear, and apprehension. When activated, it can lead to cautious or inhibited behavior.
Neurobiological Basis: The BIS is thought to involve brain regions such as the hippocampus and amygdala, which are associated with processing risk and fear.

I love Anna Akana‘s take on this corporate dystopia we’re living in.

The complaints that the Gen Z worker has in this video are common ones, the type that are on the tip of everyone’s tongue.

Why come into an office during hours when we’re expected to work all the time? Why not just work from home? Why not adjust your starting salary to account for the changes in living expenses?

It ties back in to Cal Newport‘s point in his recent book Slow Productivity. We’re so focused on maintaining the status quo of pseudoproductivity and we (the older generation) are willing to die on a hill over it.

Perhaps the way forward ironically goes against one of Cal’s most famous points in the book So Good They Can't Ignore You. Maybe passion is is important.

And maybe Cal would not argue that it isn’t important; he might just say that it follows from craftsmanship.

And perhaps that’s an underlying issue in general. We expect workers to be passionate and hungry, the workers themselves expect passion and hunger, but no one is focused on how to get better through crafting, feedback, and iteration.