One night at the dinner table, my then four-year-old daughter finally had all she could take from her older brother. She grimaced, clinched her fists, stood up and declared, “You are not the boss of me.” It was a watershed moment in her life, and in mine, for I saw a birth of freedom, of independence, of someone taking on her own voice.
So I ask, in a land that is built on freedom, why in the workplace do people continue to accept the word “boss” as normal? “My boss this, my boss that.” We are told to be free, but not in the workplace. There, hierarchy and vertical relationships still abound. There, you are expected to be a grateful wage-slave, to work for the profit of your bosses and be happy that you can put food on your table and pay your mortgage.
When are we, as a community, going to realize that this is not the only way to do things? When are enough people going to walk out of corporate servitude and start living from their spirit? When are businesses going to rewire their worn out hierarchical structures and become truly inclusive and creative? When are we going to take the risk of becoming sustainable instead of debt-ridden serfs in business clothes? When, like Walt Whitman will you say, “I wear my hat as I please, indoors or out?” Now is the time to step off the treadmill and move toward the life you cherish and the work you love. There is a new world emerging; it is one of freedom, creativity, and fun! It is like the Easter parade in New York City. You can’t wait for it to come because you are it! Now is the time to walk through the door!
And you don’t have to do it alone. Join me and others at the Creating the Work You Love workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY on June 18. You will come away from our time together knowing exactly what you need to do to create self-sustaining work that resonates with your deepest levels or integrity, passion and purpose.
Walk through the door.
