February 2025 - Corporate Stupidity, The Noetic Spiral, Gen Z's Unbossing Revolution, and Why Burnout Isn't What You Think

this is Issue #72

Feb 28, 2025

Welcome to what used to be the last month of the year!

Something strange is happening in today's workplaces. Companies recruit the brightest minds they can find, then set up systems that punish people for actually thinking. At the same time, younger employees are refusing to check their brains at the door and demanding more meaningful work.

This month's selections explore this clash, along with fresh takes on productivity, burnout, and AI's role in shaping work relationships. Each piece challenges conventional wisdom about what makes organizations effective.

THE THINKING WORKPLACE

Stupefied

Where smart people learn to stop thinking

Those who learn how to switch off their brains are rewarded. By avoiding thinking too much, they are able to focus on getting things done. Escaping the kind of uncomfortable questions that thinking brings to light also allows employees to side-step conflict with co-workers. By toeing the corporate line, thoughtless employees get seen as 'leadership material' and promoted.

Companies spend huge resources recruiting the brightest minds, then actively discourage them from using their intelligence. Spicer identifies several ways organizations promote stupidity: mindless rule-following, empty leadership jargon, pointless rebranding, and cultures that punish questioning.

The result? Smart people check their brains at the office door to get ahead. This might work in the short term, but it's exactly what led to Nokia's spectacular collapse when Apple came along. Their executives couldn't think creatively about smartphones because they'd been rewarded for years for not thinking too deeply.

Robert Sutton's "The No Asshole Rule" explores similar territory - how organizations often reward exactly the wrong behaviors. It's a good read.

The Noetic Spiral: Navigating New Creative Rhythms

Why creativity needs empty space to flourish

"While I filled my head with everyone else's thoughts, I was drowning out my own voice. Now, with the noise turned down... turns out silence isn't just golden -- it's rocket fuel for creativity."

We've all been told that creativity comes from consuming more content, more ideas, more inspiration. Zoe Scaman flips this on its head. She argues that our best insights emerge not from constant input but from intentional cycles that include genuine rest and reflection.

Her "Noetic Spiral" framework feels like a breath of fresh air in our always-on world. It pairs beautifully with Cal Newport's "Digital Minimalism," which offers practical ways to reclaim your attention from the algorithms designed to capture it.

h/t Sentiers

I Have A Few Questions

Questions that make you squirm (in a good way)

"What do I desperately want to be true, so much that I think it's true when it's clearly not?"

Instead of telling you what to think, Morgan Housel hands you 17 questions that expose your own blind spots. These aren't fluffy self-help prompts – they're intellectual sledgehammers that crack open comfortable assumptions.

My favorites include:

Which of my current views would change if my incentives were different?
How much have things outside of my control contributed to things I take credit for?
What do I think is true but is actually just good marketing?

This piece delivers more genuine insight than most business books. It's a refreshing departure from the "5 steps to success" format that dominates business content.

GENERATIONAL SHIFTS IN WORK

Managers can help their Gen Z employees unlock the power of meaningful work

Three simple questions that transform how young employees see their jobs

"Some managers may view Gen Z's desire for meaningful work as a form of entitlement, but dismissing it can be costly."

Before rolling your eyes at another "entitled Gen Z" piece, consider this: these researchers found that meaningful work directly drives productivity and retention. Their solution isn't complicated – it's about asking three surprisingly simple questions in one-on-ones:

"When have you felt most energized at work?"
"Where do you feel you contribute the most?"
"Whom do you want to learn from?"

These conversations help connect daily tasks to bigger purpose, recognize contributions, and build crucial workplace relationships. The approach bridges David Graeber's critique of "Bullshit Jobs" with practical solutions managers can implement immediately.

The Rise of Conscious Unbossing

Why 72% of Gen Z doesn't want to be the boss

"It's not that Gen Z doesn't respect leadership, it's that they associate management with stress, limited autonomy, and poor work-life balance."

Here's a twist nobody saw coming: as companies trim middle management through automation and AI, younger workers are saying "no thanks" to the remaining management roles. While 89% of employers still view these positions as crucial, 72% of Gen Z prefers expertise-based growth over traditional management paths.

This isn't just another workplace trend – it's potentially a fundamental reshaping of how organizations structure authority and expertise. As one cohort rejects the career ladder their predecessors climbed, companies face an unexpected challenge: who will manage when managing itself falls out of fashion?

Have We Forgotten How to Team?

When solitude becomes the default setting

"Self-imposed solitude might just be the most important social fact of the 21st century."

Remember team-building exercises that actually worked? This provocative piece argues they're failing now because we've fundamentally changed how we relate to groups. We're spending 99 more minutes alone each day compared to 2003, family meals are disappearing, and our comfort with solitude is reshaping workplace dynamics.

The solution isn't more trust falls or happy hours. It's recognizing that team-building needs to address deeper social shifts affecting how comfortable people feel in groups at all. This connects directly to themes in Sherry Turkle's "Alone Together" and Robert Putnam's landmark "Bowling Alone" – both excellent reads on our changing social fabric.

WELL-BEING AND PERFORMANCE

Burnout's True Impact on Job Performance

Why working fewer hours won't solve the problem

"Burnout is not about working long hours. It is often misused to describe what people are dealing with and widely misunderstood in terms of how to combat it."

Forget what you think you know about burnout. This research clarifies that it's not just exhaustion – it's a three-headed monster: feeling exhausted, becoming detached, and feeling ineffective. And here's the kicker: that last component (feeling ineffective) hurts performance the most.

The researchers found something else surprising: office workers suffer more from feelings of ineffectiveness, while customer-facing employees struggle more with exhaustion and detachment. This means your generic corporate wellness program probably isn't hitting the mark.

The big takeaway? Stop treating burnout as simply "working too much" and design interventions that address all three components – especially rebuilding that crucial sense of effectiveness.

Vacations are good for employee well-being

Science confirms what your mom already knew

"We need to break up these intense periods of work with intense periods of rest and recuperation."

I can't help but laugh at this one. Scientists conducted 32 studies across nine countries to confirm what your parents have been telling you forever: "Take a real break," "Don't check work emails on vacation," and "Get some exercise while you're away."

The University of Georgia's meta-analysis found that vacations boost well-being longer than previously thought, especially when they include complete disconnection, physical activity, and buffer days before and after. Yet most Americans still don't take all their vacation days or keep working during time off.

Maybe now that it's "scientifically proven," people will finally listen – though I suspect Mom's advice would have worked just as well.

ADAPTING TO THE AI ERA

When Candidates Use Generative AI for the Interview

Five questions that reveal who really knows their stuff

"If AI produces polished responses that candidates merely parrot, hiring managers may mistakenly attribute skills they don't actually possess."

As AI helps candidates craft impressive-sounding answers, how can hiring managers separate real expertise from well-packaged responses?

Rather than banning AI use, Kwok suggests adapting with smarter follow-ups. Asking candidates to explain their process, justify their choices, or apply their thinking to a different scenario quickly reveals whether they truly understand the material—or just memorized a script.

While critics like Cathy O'Neil (Weapons of Math Destruction) warn about AI’s potential to widen hiring inequities, Kwok takes a pragmatic view: AI isn’t going away, so hiring practices must evolve.

A NOTE ON FORMAT AND BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

You may notice I’m experimenting with the format of this newsletter—both in structure and content. One new addition is references to books that connect with the articles I highlight. This idea comes directly from my leadership development programs and coaching sessions, where book recommendations frequently come up in discussions. Given the interest, I thought it might be useful to incorporate them here, and I plan to continue this practice in future issues.

I haven’t provided recommendations for every single entry yet, but if you’re looking for something specific, let me know—I’m happy to suggest more. In the meantime, I’ve compiled a list below of the books mentioned throughout this issue.

The Craft of Management

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