"...your job is probably the biggest project of your life. It is probably the only activity to which you will ever devote the most alert of your waking hours with such disciplined regularity, day after day after day. During no other period of comparable length in your life will you make an effort of this magnitude on any project of your own." - Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined Minds

"Corporate work claims the top real estate in the world's skyscrapers, and top billing in almost any major sponsored event you can think of. Netflix turns it into all suits, stilettos, and intrigue. Who would have thought that corporate law (of all things) could be so dramatic?

And yet.

Ask around, and you'll quickly find that corporate work isn't the Wolf of Wall Street, Suits-y bonkers thrill ride it's made out to be. Middle management and office politics leave many disenchanted, and aspiring professionals who've paid eye-watering sums for graduate school find their corporate professions to be a terrible fit. Many realize that the hours can be long, that The Office was closer to reality than they'd like, and that Michael Scott is more man than myth.

AND YET.

Corporations produce new and amazing products that drive our quality of life forward. They innovate new distribution methods and supply chains that increase available goods. They provide jobs that give single individuals the power to affect massive change at scale. Taking refuge under a corporate umbrella, an individual can find money, community, stability, and (in the U.S. at least) health insurance and retirement benefits. At different times and places, corporations even offer support and acceptance for all kinds of minorities and dissidents.

And so?

The corporate world is a diverse place, and even a single company's silos can radically differ between themselves. It’s sedimentary, my dear Watson, with good, bad, and bland streaked everywhere. Given this, how do you know whether it is right for you? If you've worked in the corporate world, presently or in the past, how have you navigated it--and in pursuit of which goals? Is there a best way to do it? These are questions that many people face every day, especially during the challenge and opportunity of 2020." - Salon Host Daniel Golliher

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Good to read or watch pre-salon:

• "The Gervais Principle": https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/
• "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant": https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/
• "What Working At Stripe Has Been Like": https://www.kalzumeus.com/2020/10/09/four-years-at-stripe/
• "Desperation Hamster Wheels": https://www.cuttingmangoes.com/post/desperation-hamster-wheels

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