# Stay Hydrated in the Presence of Absurd Management By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-03-29 Modern management never fails to do the easiest thing for all the wrong reasons. It's because they don't think about the real purpose of their job and how intrinsically and extrinsically challenging the role is. Management is not easy. Yet, we've incentivized it as the only path for most people to make more money. As a result, our learned expectations of performance and human solidarity fall apart exactly when a person goes from ambitious individual contributor to in-over-their-head manager. It's not a rule that all people who become managers instantly disappoint, but the distribution dramatically shifts in the negative direction. It's a different game with different systems, outcomes, and rules. A deeper discussion is found in [[Management in Quandary - A Critique of Organizational Power]]. However, whenever a manager's action doesn't make sense, remember that they are likely as clueless as you think they are. The tragedy is that workers are powerless to do anything in modern organizational systems. Instead, we are left watching the absurdity up close. We can either laugh or cry. I choose laughter because at least I remain hydrated while I roll that meaningless boulder up the pointless hill for the millionth time. #### Related Items [[Management]] [[Laughter]] [[Crying]] [[Work]] [[Absurd]] [[Games]]