The Cult(ure) of Work
KPI Stockholm Syndrome
We start identifying with our captors: the targets.
Amy Tolja
Reporting from the afterlife of professionalism. Observing work, leadership and the quiet collapse of meaning that occurs between calendar invites. Creator of Ghost Department, currently haunting the corporate world for research purposes only.
The Cult(ure) of Work
The PowerPoint Gospel
Somewhere between the birth of the quarterly business review and the death of attention spans, PowerPoint became not just a tool but a theology. It is the one faith that requires neither belief nor understanding, only attendance.
The Cult(ure) of Work
When exhaustion became a KPI
Somewhere between the mindfulness webinars and the “Thank You Thursdays,” suffering became a badge of loyalty.
Corporate Afterlife
An Autopsy of Organizational Excitement
Cause of Death: Excitement
Corporate Afterlife
Top-Down Innovation Myth
How leadership killed creativity and blamed the employees for the body. Every few months, another company announces its Innovation Initiative. There’s a logo, a budget, a steering committee, and usually a PowerPoint template called “FutureReady.” The presentation begins with a picture of a lightbulb and ends with a quote
The Cult(ure) of Work
Digital Transformation: The Corporate Power Fantasy
When technology became a mirror for management’s insecurities. Digital transformation used to mean something. At least, it pretended to. It was once about reimagining business models, creating value, and empowering employees. Now it mostly means renaming whatever you were already doing, preferably with an AI buzzword, a dashboard, and
The Cult(ure) of Work
Where Good Ideas Go to Die
The corporate graveyard is the most enlightened parking lot.
Corporate Utopia
The Divine Geometry of the Org Chart at Utopia Group Inc.
De structura potestatis - On the Structure of Power Power at Utopia Group Inc. exists, though it pretends not to. The company is far too civilized to abolish hierarchy entirely; it simply replaced it with competence so consistent that no one feels the need to complain about fairness. Titles still appear
Corporate Utopia
Book of Genesis: Utopia Group Inc.
De origine rei corporatae - On the Origin of the Corporate Order No one agrees exactly when Utopia Group Inc. began. There was no founding day, no ribbon cut, no headline declaring that the age of reason had entered the market. It happened the way most revolutions do, too slowly to
Corporate Utopia
Utopia Group Inc.: A Field Report from the Perfect Company
De optimo statu rei corporatae - On the Best State of the Corporate Order At Utopia Group Inc., no one is unhappy. It is not forbidden to be unhappy, that would be crude, it is simply unnecessary. The conditions have been perfected with patient engineering and quiet restraint, and the result
Corporate Afterlife
Minutes from the Annual Mandatory Celebration of Festive Alignment
Field Log, December. Investigator: Me, against my will.
Corporate Afterlife
The Middle Manager’s Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
They say enlightenment happens on a mountaintop. I say it happens somewhere between a Teams call that should have been an email and a Power BI report that refuses to refresh.