Roots of Machine Mindset
Amanda Littlejohn · 2024
The rise of industrial America was a period after the Civil War that transformed American society, including mindsets and attitudes about work. Especially if the individual is getting validation, however complicated, from their work identity, that work identity can eclipse everything. In Amber Cabral's leadership and workplace culture consulting, she's seen firsthand how unchecked particularism can create unnecessary labor for those without the favoritism of leaders in the workplace and compound the type of exhaustion that eventually leads to burnout. Although the story of John Henry sits in the realm of legend, it's nevertheless a powerful illustration of our modern beliefs about work and can provide clues to how those beliefs evolved. In many workplaces, fast-paced environments are designed with the expectation that human beings will produce machine-level outputs: better, cheaper, faster, more.