Hi Tim,

I don’t take much issue with anything you’ve said above. I agree especially that there’s a massive disconnect between education and employment. When I say Millennials were ‘promised’, I don’t mean it in a legal sense — just in an ephemeral, ‘in the air’ kind of way. I certainly don’t mean to suggest that the most entitled young people deserve to be entitled.

But consider this aspect of the education/eployment diconnect. Many Millennials go through uni and acquire skills, because we’re told to do that by the labour market. Many of them find those skills undervalued or underutilised when they do get jobs. Current good management practice argues that an employee using their skills is more satisfied than one who doesn’t. That’s sort of the promise I mean — there are a lot of people out there trying very hard to do the right thing only to find that it wasn’t really all that useful. I think people who’ve put themselves on the line only to be told by the people who set the expectations that it wasn’t enough are entitled to feel aggrieved.

You sound like a good communicator who articulates what he wants form his employees, and that’s a credit to you. Not everyone is so lucky to have a boss like that. I commend those who find common cause with someone with similar values, as it sounds like you and your employees have. That’s what working together well looks like.

I think that sense of ‘waiting for permission’ that you identify is more about the fact that a lot of the other options feel impossible. Yeah, they could definitely leave their jobs — but my sense form Graeber’s book is that they think most jobs out there are bullshit.

My problem with neoliberalism and work in the contemporary moment isn’t with its content — it’s the fact it’s inescapable. But I’d like to see a world where those of us without the killer instinct or driven by the profit motive have more space to live livable lives, and maybe even thrive.

Thanks for taking the time to comment!