Years ago, I met a young woman who had just joined the company where I worked.
SHORT STORIES
Years ago, I met a young woman who had just joined the company where I worked.
She wasn’t someone who immediately stood out as exceptionally brilliant. What stood out was her willingness to learn, participate and contribute.
At the time, I had created something I called Kaizenshare. People could voluntarily present one of their Kaizen ideas in ten minutes: the situation before, their proposal, what had led them to it, and the results.
She volunteered a couple of times. That made me notice her.
She was in her early twenties, petite, energetic, and almost always smiling.
Then organizations do what organizations do. There were changes. Her area moved. People moved. Responsibilities changed. And I gradually lost sight of her.
I did notice one thing.
Her manager’s Kaizen submissions increasingly arrived from her email account.
He depended on her a lot.
For her manager, she was already a manager. For the company, she wasn’t.
Years later, almost by accident, I came across a photograph from an old company Christmas party. We were both in it with several colleagues.
And only then did I realize how much she had changed.
The petite, smiling young woman I remembered seemed very far away.
That photograph stayed with me.
Because burnout rarely arrives one morning announcing itself.
Responsibility accumulates. Dependence accumulates. The capable person keeps responding, so the system keeps asking.
Until carrying too much starts looking normal.
I have never admired workaholism. I know it too well. I was a workaholic myself.
And perhaps that is why that photograph stayed with me.
When work begins taking your health, your life, or your smile, something is wrong.
But I no longer think the only question is whether the person has the right priorities.
We should also ask what kind of system learned to depend on that sacrifice.