The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

Viewing them as too passionate.
Too dramatic.
Too impatient.

But the reality is, emotion means you give a fuck and I’d rather have that than work with robots who efficiently execute what’s needed without ever wishing to add, elevate or challenge the status quo.

Of course, the irony is the companies who criticise employees for caring deeply about what they do, tend to also expect their people to be disproportionately passionate and loyal about the company – but guess what fuckers, you can’t have one without the other.

Now I appreciate there are different ways to express emotion …

And when it becomes about what YOU want versus what you want the work to be – they’re very different things.

But having people who care … who deeply want to do the right thing, the better thing and the new thing … is creatively and commercialy far more valuable – let alone interesting – than having an entire department of drones. And yet in these optimisation obsessed times, companies have decided the opposite is true.

Which leads to the point of this post.

Recently I saw this clip of Robert Glasper playing Radiohead’s ‘Everything In It’s Right Place’.

In it, you witness Robert crying as he plays the piece.

The emotional impact he feels because of the piece.

It’s not ego.
It’s not performative.
It’s pure, unfiltered emotion. For a piece of music he didn’t write but feels deeply connected to.

So connected, he gives his all in performing it. To honour what it means to him and what he hopes the audience will get from it.

In many ways, it’s one of the most selfless, geneous acts you could ever witness.

Something I am sure Radiohead would feel honoured by, rather than say:

“Robert … Robert … stop being so emotional about the music. It makes us feel uncomfortable and we don’t know how to deal with it”.

Because that’s the thing … the issue of emotion is not about the person feeling it, but the people who never can.

Who are so disconnected to what they do, the only thing they value is the checklist of what has been done.

Because for them, quality isn’t the goal, it’s productivity.

People who care about what they do and what the company does, is a gift.

It’s why we have to put an end to this false narrative of them being a problem … because they provide life to what so many senior leaders destroy.

Enjoy.

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