“Don’t ask us to attend ‘cos we’re not all there.
Oh, don’t pretend ‘cos I don’t care.
I don’t believe illusions ‘cos too much is real.
So, stop your cheap comment ‘cos we know what we feel”
Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”
The sentiment behind this chapter
is a little spicy.
We are at a point in time
where companies need to ‘adapt or die.’
Punk was a moment,
before it became a movement.
People are having a moment.
A punk moment.
They have had enough
of not being appreciated or valued,
their contribution unrecognised.
You can dress it up all you want
as the ‘Great Resignation,’ ‘Great Reshuffle,’
or ‘Quiet Quitting.’
We need change,
not another label to describe the problem.
There is an explosion of emotion.
There is an individual ‘can-do’ attitude at odds
with corporate culture.
There is a willingness to make a difference,
to make a change.
A groundswell of individual activism not in the streets,
but in offices, at kitchen tables, on zoom calls.
(Camera on – optional.)
The pandemic was the catalyst.
It was the final spark to the powder keg of discontent,
of human dissatisfaction.
And we’re not going to take it anymore.
The façade, the pretence, the illusion is done.
No more,
don’t pretend,
because we don’t care.
And if you think that we’re just all out to lunch,
truth is we’re not actually coming back.
This is the new reality.
This is a watershed moment
to come together.
To do things differently.
It’s on everyone to contribute,
to take notice, to play their part.
If you can’t be sincere,
if you can’t value
the people who work for you,
then don’t ask us to attend,
cos we’re not all there.
Extract taken from
‘A Bad Hand Played Well
– How to own your 90,000 hours at work’
by Neil Schambra Stevens.
Published by October 2023
Photo: Alyona Grishina for Unsplash.com
