# Nothing More Than the Minimum By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2025-01-31 An old joke about the office dynamics between workers and managers goes something like this: I pretend to work, and the manager pretends to care. At the core of this joke is that both parties are engaged in a symbiotic act of giving the minimum. It might be interesting to build a simulation model calibrated to minima. Elements like the minimum amount to pay workers at different strata and occupation categories, the minimum amount of effort, the minimum amount of productivity, and the minimum amount of attention could all be incorporated into the model. Examining operations at the point of nothing more than the minimum level of investment could be revealing. The result could provide a fixed point of reference against which one could measure reality. Where are we, individually and collectively, along the spectrum of investment? The answer to this question is not just economic but existential as well. People can, and routinely do, give the minimum effort. Organizations can, and routinely do, pay employees the minimum possible. A reality defined by nothing more than minimum is an impoverished one. Humans cry out for something more than the minimum. Most of us want to be fulfilled. This cannot be achieved at the point of minimum investment. Fulfillment requires more. There are standard ways organizations attempt to incentivize this, at least rhetorically. Money is the most apparent approach used. Give people a chance for a raise or a promotion, and they will work harder and longer. The second approach presents some nonsense notion of exceptionalism. This approach is based on telling the individual how amazing the organization is and how, by being part of the organization, the individual, too, is superior to others. These approaches can be practical, but typically not for long, and they are rarely effective for motivating the strategic and the critical. A more profound sense of motivation is achieved through solidarity. When one feels genuinely connected to others, a sense of obligation emerges. One is inspired to give one’s best not for self-centered reasons but because one doesn’t want to disappoint one’s group. This level of investment will not be achieved through offsites or teambuilding activities. Such superficialities work against building solidarity. Real solidarity only emerges through authentic connection. Without it, most will keep giving and receiving nothing more than the minimum. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Management]] [[Effort]] [[Solidarity]] [[Simulation Modeling]] [[Authenticity]]