Leave Me Alone, and I Will Be Your Most Productive Employee

But poke, harass, and otherwise annoy me? Then, we are going to have a problem.

Photo courtesy of author

“I’m heading out for a run to clear my mind.”

Physical exercise has become essential for me to survive in the modern workplace. I am 54 years old and have never felt better. I am in much better shape than I was, let’s say, twenty years ago. I run more than two marathon distances every week.

Crucially, running helps to avoid mental exhaustion and burnout. It preserves my sanity in an increasingly insane world. It cleanses my soul and lets me shed the accumulated nonsense of everyday life.

But this is not a piece about the virtues of exercise. It’s about the “accumulated nonsense” that drives me to run further and faster.

Quality Street

One of my biggest sources of frustration is the massive growth in systems that tell me how to do my job properly.

I’m talking about quality control systems, quality control audits, and quality control committees.

In today’s workplace, trust is no longer the foundation of relationships. Instead, processes, procedures, and committees have taken over as the driving forces behind decision-making and…