The Optimistic Workplace

Introduction

STUDS TERKEL’S CLASSIC 1972 BOOK WORKING OPENS WITH A drab, sullen note that still seems too familiar today: “This book, being about work, is, by its very nature, about violence—to the spirit as well as to the body.”¹ For centuries, workers have endured treatment that belittles their pride and robs the artistry from their craft. All the while “the man,” sticking it to his employees, kept a greedy eye on profits while ignoring working conditions. People were merely a means to a profitable end.

This is not Terkel’s tome continued. This is my shot across the bow against the archaic beliefs still squandering people’s hopes, ideas, humanity, and access to meaningful work. I’m not the first to fire, but one of many emboldened by the belief ...