May 07, 2004
Where's the Passion?
Creativity and innovation are at the core of a designer's skill set. Its what differentiates us from the rest of the world who just "use" because we always ask "how can this be done better?". Success at improving the world around us depends greatly on our abilities for compassion and empathy. As designers we need to feel so we can understand what people need and desire, then design to that.
Unfortunately, the corporate culture continually works at removing all emotion from the workplace.
Grey walls. Fluorescent lights. Blank, listless stares on people walking by. Flat and banal conversations. All are hallmarks of the hallways inside corporate America.
We have been told that we can voice our opinions, but we need to do so without any emotion. Walking on eggshells so as not to say the wrong word and get written up has become old-hand. Racing to be on time, to the minute, everyday because someone in the office is clock-watching.
Over the past 5 years I've felt like my thoughts and desires have been ratcheted slowly to a concrete floor, and it scares me. I don't want to continue living the majority of my waking hours in a place that works at sucking out every ounce of my humanity through a small straw. What really kills me is I can't think of any plausible reason why corporate life has to be this way.
Breathe Life Back In
It might come as a surprise, but I actually have no objection to the work I get to do, or the fact that it is in a corporation of 10,000+ employees. Hell, I even like most of my co-workers! However, I do object to having to work that much harder every day to claw through the well built walls of "corporation" to find that spark that sets my creativity aflame. So how do we combat this?
Personally, I did the only thing I could, I dropped the guise. I let my emotions roll when I feel I have a good point in a conversation. I don't mask my pleasure or displeasure with people, situations, or life in general anymore. I've stopped hiding.
Life is too short to just go through the motions. I need to feel alive. Not just for the sake of bing a better designer, but also for quality of life.
Hopefully I'll escape the corporate binds sometime soon, but I'll never be able to escape the culture completely. Political correctness pervades everything we do these days when , and I will have to play ball to some extent.
But that doesn't mean I have to play by the rules (More on that one next time I'm in the mood for another good rant).
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- Working on the Inside
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