do you like ted talks? if so, keep reading. if not, please leave me a comment. i have follow-up questions.
anyway, if you do like ted talks, chances are you’ll enjoy cy wakeman’s book ‘no ego’, because it basically reads like one long ted talk. it’s short, fun, and easy to read, filled with anecdotes.
it’s about the workplace and, more specifically, the ego (read: expectations and emotional fall-out) that each and every one of us brings to work—how it hurts us, how we can deal with it, and, more importantly, how leaders can address it within teams and larger organisations.
and before you say, ‘me? i don’t do drama or bring emotions to work,’ let’s take a moment to reconsider what drama—or ‘emotional waste’, as she calls it—can actually look like: the complaining, the blaming, the gossip, the people who prefer to argue and offer opinions instead of taking action, the ones who think they’re always right, the stories we make up in our minds to convince ourselves we’re right and others are wrong, and so on.
still don’t think this applies to you? not even sometimes? just a little bit?
ok, i’ll go first. yes, this is me. at least some of the time. and i’ve found it zaps a lot of my energy and joy at work.
wakeman’s argument goes a bit further though. she challenges the idea of what responsibilities should lie with employees—like engagement—and which should lie with leaders, such as accountability. all while asking self-reflection from all parties.
in an (hr) world currently full of buzzwords like ‘war for talent’ and ‘quiet quitting’, this perspective isn’t just counter-intuitive. it’s both groundbreaking and genuinely inspirational.
unless, of course, you happened to train and work as a therapist before moving into the world of hr (as wakeman did) and remembered one very important lesson: how ‘happy’, ‘engaged’, and ‘inspired’ someone feels at work has more to do with that individual and their mindset than with their manager or their working conditions. and like in therapy, individuals are challenged to take control of what they can actually control (which is themselves and their actions) instead of defaulting to the drama and expecting others to change instead.
long story short, i liked this book. and i’m confident it’ll help me become a better leader—and a better employee.
one disclaimer though
these tactics apply to non-toxic workplaces only. this doesn’t work in environments of abuse or with leaders who aren’t willing to do their share of ego work and give as much as they ask in return.
