Good to Great to Gaslit

Do you ever doubt your sanity at work?

🌸 ikigai 生き甲斐 is a reason for being, your purpose in life - from the Japanese iki 生き meaning life and gai 甲斐 meaning worth 🌸

On a Monday morning in the early twenty tens, most of the company gathers in the largest meeting room they can find. Executives beaming from the stage hand out copies of "Good to Great" like communion wafers. Today, the staff are told, everything changes. “We're getting on the right bus, with the right people, heading in the right direction.”

By Friday, the books are propping up monitors and nobody mentions buses ever again. Was it a fever dream? I was stupidly excited to read an interesting book, on board with change, then poof it was all gone before we’d even had a chance to talk about it at the next management team away day.

One moment the message was world-changing, the next it was never spoken of again. You start to wonder if you imagined it, until you catch a colleague’s almost imperceptibly raised eyebrow in a meeting and realise, no, it’s the system that’s absurd, not you.

I wonder if they are now using AI to write inspirational mission statements whilst humans still need two signatures to order office supplies. Machines crafting poetry about "empowering human potential" but Arabella from the BD team waits a week for approval on an email she could have written blindfolded.

Are we about to live through the most backwards revolution in workplace history?

We’re automating parts of work that give meaning, while clinging to the bureaucracies that drive people mad, and in doing so organisations gaslight employees into thinking the madness is normal.

The efficiencies nobody asked for

You can probably walk through any modern office and witness spectacular own goals being scored. AI generated annual reports and "authentic" thought leadership pieces… meanwhile, humans still sit through meetings about meetings, manage their timesheets in three different systems and navigate bureaucracies that would make Kafka weep.

Organisations proudly announcing a new AI tool that can draft complex strategic documents but colleagues spend hours getting sign-off to change two words in a report they know that no-one reads.

Robots write symphonies whilst humans play the triangle, badly, on repeat.

Are we automating away tasks that give people purpose while ignoring the actual issues with most offices? The creative problem-solving, the crafting of ideas, the satisfaction of making something from nothing. These can be moments of the hatarakigai aspect of ikigai, “work worth doing”, the intersection of what we love, what we're good at, what the world needs and what we can be valued for.

Instead, we seem to be good at preserving the administrative theatre that drives talented people to update their LinkedIn profiles on their lunch breaks.

The mismatch is so stark it makes you question your sanity, until you remember you’re not supposed to question the process at all. It would almost be funny if it weren’t soul-sucking… creative work for the robots, drudgery for the humans micromanged by Tarquin.

"Oh, that's just how Tarquin is"

Everyone knows people leave bad managers, not bad jobs. Harvard Business Review's written about it. TED Talks dissect it. Your nana probably knows it. Yet Tarquin from accounts still makes three people cry quarterly and nobody does anything because "that's just how Tarquin is." The silence becomes part of the gaslighting, if nobody else names the madness, maybe it’s you that’s oversensitive?

These managers seem to proliferate like bindweed through organisations. Often decent project managers or budget controllers once upon a time, promoted beyond their competence into roles requiring actual humanity that is too hard to fake. Managing clever people requires emotional intelligence, empathy, the ability to nurture and develop talent. Instead, we get Tarquin, who thinks motivation means pitting people against each other.

The technology exists to revolutionise this. AI could handle performance reviews objectively, schedule meetings efficiently while protecting deep work time blocks, distribute resources fairly. But we don't automate management bureaucracy. We automate creativity whilst preserving the very structures that make Monday mornings feel like walking into emotional quicksand.

Where are the people at the top, who should be checking Tarquin doesn't destroy another team? Perhaps they're asking AI to write keynote speeches about "putting people first."

This isn’t just demoralising, it’s expensive. Poor mental health costs UK employers £51 billion annually, according to Deloitte's 2024 research, and that's just the direct costs to business. We're haemorrhaging money and talent whilst Tarquin remains blissfully unmanaged. We're literally automating inspiration whilst manufacturing depression. The cost has come down slightly from the pandemic peak of £56 billion (2020-21) but is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic (£45 billion in 2019), suggesting this is now a sustained crisis rather than a temporary pandemic blip.

Preserving bad managers and broken processes is one of the most wasteful business models in history. Tarquin isn’t just a bad manager, he’s the cost centre no one measures.

The underground resistance

In break rooms and coffee queues, something beautiful happens. People who refuse to accept this madness find each other. They form informal therapy groups, armed with cake or bacon baps and the ability to rant. They swap survival strategies, share small victories and remind each other that feeling crazy in a crazy system means you're sane. These whispered conversations break the gaslighting spell, proof that it’s the system that’s twisted, not your perception.

These pocket rebellions matter more than any corporate transformation programme. They're where people admit the emperor's wearing nothing but a lanyard. Where someone finally says what every sensible person is thinking “maybe we're prioritising the wrong things to fix.”

I know brilliant people who've spent months building relationships with stakeholders, understanding their needs, crafting solutions that actually matter. Their work at risk of being "efficiently streamlined" by AI. Meanwhile, they still manually update several different systems with the same information because "that's the process."

Most workplaces still have a shot at cracking this. When we prepare for AI workflows, we can ask what do humans do brilliantly that machines never will? Connection. Empathy. Creative leaps. Moral judgment. The ability to read a room, comfort a colleague, inspire a team or know when to break the rules.

Let’s not look at our workplaces and decide to automate the poetry but keep all the flipping spreadsheets and gatekeepers.

This isn't technological determinism. We can actively choose meaningful change.

Every organisation buying AI licenses but maintaining archaic approval processes is voting for an inverted future. Every leader who lets AI draft their policy docs whilst turning a blind eye to toxic management is complicit.

The saddest part? Some people still care desperately, not everyone has resigned themselves to accepting the status quo. Some want their work to really matter. They fight for better ways of doing things, even when it gets them labeled as "difficult." They burn out trying to preserve meaning in meaningless systems. Eventually, they leave, taking their passion and knowledge with them, whilst Tarquin gets another team to traumatise.

The possible revolution

I’m hopeful that systemic absurdity is becoming impossible to ignore. When AI can write your company's diversity policy but actual diverse voices aren’t involved in decision making, something has to give.

Imagine reversing our priorities. AI handles the bureaucracy… the approvals, the scheduling, the reports nobody reads. Humans focus on what we're brilliant at… supporting each other, solving complex problems, building relationships, creating meaning.

Picture Tarquin’s job being redesigned. The administrative control and operational functions get automated. Suddenly, he has to actually develop people or find a different role. People management becomes what it should be, a skilled profession for those who genuinely care about nurturing humans, not a default promotion for those who've survived long enough.

Some organisations experiment with this, using AI to eliminate administrative burden whilst investing in human creativity and connection. Measuring managers on how well they set a clear vision and support their people in achieving it, not how many meetings they attend. They're recognising that meaning isn't a nice-to-have but the core of sustainable performance.

When AI handles scheduling and reporting it leaves humans free to run bold experiments with stakeholders. Morale soars when people get to do the work they love.

If your workplace feels backwards, you're probably not imagining it. When you see AI writing vision statements as humans fill out timesheets, you're witnessing organisational madness. When "that's just how Tarquin is" makes you want to scream, your anger is justified.

You can influence this. Start small. Find your pocket rebellion support structure. Connect with others who see the absurdity. Demonstrate what good looks like in your corner of the world. Question why we're being asked to automate creativity whilst preserving control. Ask uncomfortable questions about what we're really optimising for. Think about the consequences.

Most importantly, refuse to accept that this is inevitable. We're writing the future of work right now, one systemic change at a time. Every time we preserve human creativity whilst automating bureaucracy, we vote for meaning. Every time we demand better management instead of accepting Tarquin, we vote for humanity.

The choice isn't between efficiency and meaning. The most efficient system is one where humans do what we're brilliant at whilst machines handle what they're built for. That's not radical. That's sensible.

But sense doesn’t always seem to be common at an organisational level and we need to change that.

Those of us who remember the promise of healthy workplaces before they became this shitshow know better is possible. We've seen enough "revolutions" to recognise real change from theatre. We're old enough to call out absurdity, experienced enough to know it doesn't have to be this way.

The buses from Good to Great are still running. They're being driven by AI right now, but the humans are still stuck at the ticket machine trying to figure out the route, maybe it’s time to hijack the route?

The people who care, who fight, who refuse to accept that work must be meaningless? We're not troublemakers. We're the ones holding the line against apathy or complete organisational madness. We're preserving the possibility that work could actually work.

Tomorrow, when you watch AI craft another "authentic" message whilst waiting for approval to send out your email, remember… you’re not crazy, you’re being gaslit by a crazy system.

If you’ve ever caught a colleague’s raised eyebrow across a meeting room, you already know it’s not you, it’s the system.

… and systems can change.

Sarah, seeking ikigai xxx

PS - For anyone this resonates with I recommend you create your own pocket of sanity. Find one person who sees what you see. Start there. The revolution begins with coffee and the radical act of admitting this is all a bit mad, isn't it? It’ll come from humans refusing to be gaslit, and insisting that work *is* worth doing… and if you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear from you, what’s one tiny act of rebellion or sanity-preserving move you’ve tried at work? It could be as small as saying no, booking a days leave to skip a pointless meeting or finding your own pocket of humour.

PPS – Journal Prompt

If you feel like journalling on this topic this week, try this;

Where in my work life do I feel most gaslit, doubting my own instincts, silencing my frustration, or questioning my value, and what tiny act of rebellion could I try this week to reclaim meaning or sanity?

One eyebrow-raising moment, one small refusal, one act of preservation is all it takes to start.

PPPS – AI Coaching Prompt

If you want to explore this with AI, here’s a prompt you can paste straight in;

“You are my work-life coach. I want to explore where organisational gaslighting might be draining my energy. Please help me reflect on: (1) Which of my current tasks feel meaningful vs meaningless, (2) How my manager and team dynamics might affect my sense of sanity, (3) What warning signs of burnout or apathy I should look for, and (4) What practical strategies I can use to preserve my energy, sanity, and sense of purpose. Challenge me gently if I minimise or excuse unhealthy patterns.”

Sometimes the act of naming these patterns out loud (even to a machine) can bring clarity.

PPPPS – Soundtrack
And if you want a soundtrack while you’re thinking about all this, Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. It’s gorgeously yearning, a reminder of how heavy systems can feel when you’re battling them. I nearly picked the Stranger Things version, because it can feel exactly like fighting a huge monster that wants to crush you… but just like in that scene, what really fells the monster isn’t more process stuff, it’s the simple act of remembering what matters most, laughing with your best friends, your family, your people.