We are free to choose our mindset
Read moreThe previous post closed with a fundamental concept from Camus’ analysis of the myth of Sisyphus. From the author’s viewpoint, we mortals should come to recognize the absurd nature of life as a form of liberation. This is one of the messages at the core of Camus’ writing, and of existential philosophy in general. If there is no intrinsic meaning to
Making work a place for growth, discovery and reflection
Read moreIt is not an exaggeration to say that my contemplation of Camus and Sisyphus planted some early seeds for my lifelong reflection about work and organizations. In fact, looking back on that summer leaves me increasingly convinced that the learning I did then had a lasting impact on many aspects of my career–as a business executive, professor, consultant, author and public
The benefits of developing a fun-loving attitude at work
Read moreAs we explained last time, it became our custom to amuse ourselves by invoking the absurd facets of working in the dreaded scraping station. One of the creative ways we found to lighten our burden was inventing comedic scenarios. For example, in the midst of our scraping, two of us would pretend that some of the company’s top executives had walked in to
How to keep our mood light in trying circumstances
Read moreAmong the most effective devices we found for keeping our mood light and positive while performing the tough job of scraping cases in the winery was simply laughing at the absurdity of our situation. Once we had the feeling of being together in a flow—joking and telling anecdotes—we were free to make fun of ourselves and the hard work and drudgery in front
Changing our approach to scraping cases
Read moreIn the previous post, we looked at the work in the scraping station, and we mentioned some of the stratagems we used to help us remain upbeat despite the onerous nature of the assignment. As I recall, the complete reshaping of our mindset in the scraping station began innocently enough. At a particularly trying moment one late afternoon, when I
Reframing in the scraping station
Read moreIn the previous post, we observed that there was one place that nearly all the winery workers found particularly burdensome—the room where we scraped the wooden cases. At the same time, though, I see now that it was also a context that presented intriguing opportunities for reframing. Today, I propose to take a closer look at the specific work we did