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by rphouser 4326 days ago
The term “co-creator” (at the end of the article) jumped out to me as an ideal way to treat all employees of a company. If everyone’s ideas about company processes are valued and integrated, that creates an atmosphere of respect and allows everyone to invest in the success of the processes. Sounds like a great work environment.
1 comments
TheOtherHobbes 4326 days ago
Does that mean everyone gets stock?

Ah. Thought not.

I have no issue with meditation or mindfulness.

I have huge issues with trying to combine them with for-profit strive-and-drive hit-the-goals success culture. To me, that's a contradictory and frankly crazy-making combination.

The last time I saw something similar was when Lululemon tried to make yoga-culture and positivity obligatory. That was not so successful at making employees treat each other well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stewart-j-lawrence/when-yogis-...

I don't doubt Asana is a cool place to work. But I don't think it's necessary to use jargon from other cultures and spiritual traditions to make people happy and get stuff done.

I find the approach culty and creepy, and unless rewards are being distributed with the workload, I also question whether it's fully informed at best - or entirely sincere, at worst.

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rphouser 4324 days ago
Not sure how mindfulness and “strive-and-drive” are incompatible/contradictory. Isn't one of the goals of mindfulness to take time to ensure everything is working as efficiently as possible? And I feel rewarded when I impact work processes, when I’m able to share my ideas and see them discussed and implemented. Monetary reward is not the only motivator or measure of fulfillment for people. (And I don't even work at Asana)

Also the lululemon piece seemed to be about the company creating a marketing campaign with whatever made-up version of yoga most improved sales, which seems far from the internal practices that are discussed in this article.

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Dewie 4326 days ago
Right. I'm automatically sceptical of these practices when it comes from an employer/company. Maybe that's just due to the fundamental power dynamic (which I suspect the concept of co-creators won't mitigate, but I guess anything is possible).

On the other hand, maybe workplaces can't help but promote certain culturally motivated practices, whether they can help it or not? A company that endorses crunch time and regular over time, has already tacitly endorsed a certain philosophy and culture when it comes to how people should be managed and how productivity is leveraged.

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