Navigating the Paperwork Kingdom of Illusory Empowerment
The moment the CEO’s email loaded, the screen started that familiar, nauseating flicker. Not a quick spasm, but a slow, rhythmic stutter that felt personal, like a nervous tic that had metastasized into hardware failure. I was scanning the subject line: “Owning Your Impact: Q4 Strategic Vision.” A phrase so rich, so heavy with implied trust and expansive authority, it almost made the persistent, high-pitched whine from the tower speaker sound like a fanfare.
The Contradiction: Flying While Tied
They tell you to fly, but they tie your shoelaces together with 2-ply mandated nylon cord. They hand you responsibility-you are responsible for the project failing, for the budget overruns, for the unhappy client-but they systematically strip away the power needed to actually execute against that responsibility.
I mean, we are all owners now, aren’t we? The language has shifted completely. We are not employees; we are partners, stakeholders, intrapreneurs, and, yes, owners. We are told, explicitly, that the success of the company rests on our proactive decisions and our unbridled autonomy. It is the gospel preached from every all-hands stage and embedded in the core values deck, usually slide number 2. The idea is potent, intoxicating, a feeling of being granted the keys to the kingdom.
And yet, an hour after reading the CEO’s declaration that I was, essentially, a miniature benevolent dictator of my own domain, I had to initiate the process to replace the flickering monitor. The purchase






















































