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So, this response has been making the rounds on the internet and has been probably loved by the whole anti-work crowd. The video compares office work to a cult. Called the Cult of Professionalism it has the worship of a non-human deity called a company, has a cult-like doctrine in the form of mission statements/vision statements/etc, the c-suite executives are the high priestesses/priests, have buzzword filled ‘scripture’ you are expected to follow, and … well, you get the picture.

From what I can tell from her many mischaracterizations, it is likely just sarcastic satire. I don’t think she’s actually worked an office job, or probably a terribly dysfunctional one. Sadly, this is an increasingly common form of pseudo-intellectual sarcasm that disenfranchised groups like the anti-work crowd gravitate towards. It’s not new. People have done this to actual religions, government, and in recent years just about all social structures. They paint with a broad brush while at the same time offering no viable or even sound alternatives.

That’s not to say there aren’t absolutely valid points in her sarcasm. I have long been extremely worried about the growing cult-like behavior in many small startups, non-profits, and larger corporations. Places that promise that you can ‘bring your whole self to work’ are known to be toxic. It creates an environment in which your sense of self worth and self-identity is now tied to your job. Emotional manipulation is easy by leadership and it’s often a temptation they can’t avoid. (Examples: “If you’re really committed to this cause, you’ll come in to our non-paid volunteer activity on Saturday to support the work we all need to do to fight <insert your chosen ‘evil’ here>”, “We require you give us access to all your social media accounts, expect you to post all our events on all your personal accounts, and send invites to our events to everyone on your friend lists”. Both are actual things I know have happened to friends at local Portland non-profits). Finally, some organizations are requiring ever greater disclosure and adherence to ideals that have very little to do with the work being done – which is probably why we’re now seeing ever-increasing lawsuits in this area and workplace environments becoming ever more actively hostile and divisive.

At any rate, her video made the rounds on Linked-In, and I thought one user had a great response:

I feel sorry for her because she’s probably been in an environment previously or currently, that feeds her evidence of these beliefs she holds. There is a different perspective to all this hierarchy and managing. It does serve its purpose. But if you’re mentally conditioned to be a victim, it’s a great premise for oppression, by people who don’t know better, isn’t it?

It’s good satire, but feeds newbies with pre-determined beliefs and then they validate it with the one thing that did not resonate with them, and conveniently choose to ignore the other 9 instances of learning, knowledge and professionalism. Our mental conditioning sets us up for bias against even the most well meaning actions.

It has actually become really cool to label everything fascist and oppressive without owning or taking responsibility for one’s own actions or limited capabilities.

I think that last bit is really good. In the end, we can only own and control our own actions. We cannot own the actions of others and change can only begin with yourself. If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that the fastest way to get yourself into a whole host of troubles is to give into the easy temptation to start blaming others and focusing on what others are doing wrong instead of focusing 100% on myself and my actions. Secondly, we must recognize we have limited capabilities. Even the most ardent startup leaders say working together and with others is critical to getting anything done – no matter what people want to believe. We simply cannot do things by ourselves – we must work together. And when we must work together, structure develops. No matter how much people have tried to deny that in the past – to horrific consequences.

I think a vast untapped area of need is the growing disenfranchised population of young people that now mistake meme-like anti-intellectual sarcasm for real wisdom – while ignoring being educated on the countless decades of empirical research and well understood social and behavioral data. Sadly, we seem to be slipping into the same mistakes we made in the early 20th century – mistakes that cost millions of lives and lead to the most oppressive political regimes in all of human history.

My favorite is at 2:10 when he is confused catching his own tail.