Andrew Hilger

Andrew Hilger writes and speaks about leadership, AI, the future of work, and digital transformation.

Let's start the Family Feud

Who finds no joy at work?

๐—™๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐—™๐—ฒ๐˜‚๐—ฑ ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ
H๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ…

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ผ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜๐˜„๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐˜‚๐—บ๐—ฏ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—ท๐—ผ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ?

๐Ÿด. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—น๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ช๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: As long as you’re trading time for money, work will be something to endure. Don’t resign yourself to a transactional existence.

๐Ÿณ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐˜†๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ฐ: If you find yourself playing gotcha with your employer, you either need to find a new employer or ask yourself whether your opening bid should be trust. Be skeptical, have high standards, but don’t cross over into cynicism.

๐Ÿฒ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต-๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ช๐—ต๐˜†-๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ-๐—œ-๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜-๐—•๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป-๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Comparison is the thief of joy. Spend your days questioning the last three promotions and the thieves will have made off with your joy. In the long run, good things happen to great teammates who kick ass and take names.

๐Ÿฑ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ I๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ: If you’re worried about getting found out, say goodbye to having fun. Life’s way too short to live in fear. The sooner you recognize no one has it all figured out, the more chances you’ll take, the more you can be yourself, and the more fun you’ll have.

๐Ÿฐ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—œ-๐——๐—ผ๐—ป’๐˜-๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ-๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ-๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: If you don’t invest in relationships, the best of times will feel hollow. Even more important, you won’t have anyone to help you through the tough times. It’s clichรฉ, but people make everything worthwhile. That’s not less true when you swipe your badge at work.

๐Ÿฏ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—บ: Spend your days collecting grievances, and you’ll spend your nights complaining aboutโ€ฆ wellโ€ฆ everything. Victims don’t win. They also don’t have much fun. Retain your agency.

๐Ÿฎ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—œ-๐—›๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ-๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด-๐—ง๐—ผ-๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ-๐—ข๐—ป ๐—ž๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„-๐—ถ๐˜-๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น: If you really have nothing to work on, you’re bored; go find a new challenge. Decent chance this person is delusional, doesn’t take feedback well, and lives life blaming others for any shortcomings (see victim). That’s no fun.

๐Ÿญ. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ก๐—ผ๐˜-๐— ๐˜†-๐—๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜: Do only what’s in your job description and accept that you’re a cog in the machine. It will suck your soul. Ask yourself: Are you laying bricks or building a cathedral?

What would you add?