This interview convinced me to buy Jenny’s book. It’s easier to be hopeful with her reframing of how we measure ourselves.
One point was how isolated and divisive work conditions can be destructive (to both mental health and outcomes), but shared time and community can be much more generative and meaningful from the same hours of our input.
When systems force individual measurement, logging and production of output (for efficiency) it literally stops us from investing the same hours of our day into collective potentials - the same way we enjoy with body doubling and parallel play (hello ADHDers), or solo music vs in a band, or community gatherings. Both individual and shared experiences are useful, but workers’ time is increasingly being systemically individualised by corporate needs and demands. And our time is often forced into transactional individual units - whether providing or buying labour, licences, services etc.
Systems and workplaces could choose to invest in collective potential but how would they measure the unknowns and track and optimise (or minimise) compensation :0
Why else do you think people are more productive working 4 days a week instead of 5 days a week? Human productivity is not linear, like business managers seem to think. Tracking collective potential is possible through measuring the quality of outcome. I cannot think of any other way.