Remember that scene in the Matrix, where Morpheus is being interrogated by Agent Smith, and he says that the first Matrix, where everything was perfect, was a complete failure? “Entire crops were lllllost,” as he so eloquently put it. That’s the world people, and especially the work environment.
I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but it’s a true thing. If people don’t have something to complain about in the workplace, something obvious and unifying, they don’t have a positive work experience. Well, maybe positive isn’t the right word. They don’t have a predictable work experience.
It’s not just that people will complain about anything, it’s that they need to. Some part of us absolutely has to find flaw in whatever situation we find ourselves (or rather put ourselves) in. It’s the seeds of revolution, the blossoming of innovation and renewal in many cases.
Just like forest fires, we have to burn away the chaff to make new growth, and the fire can’t start without a spark. But what happens when it’s nothing but sparks and no fuel? What situations prevail when there’s nothing to burn, just faint whiffs of fume and the occasional puff of smoke?
No lessons learned, no tides turned, just layers of spent flint, laying heavy on the foundations of innovation.
Change is happening, and it’s brilliant to watch, it just sucks when you’re watching it happen in seemingly distant local’s, far from your own reach and sentient work environment. But I believe it’s happening, and even if it’s not, in the immortal words of Fox Mulder…
…I want to believe.
