“THEWork has lost people because people have become something else and work, as it is structured, is no longer enough». Riccarda Zezza, CEO and founder of Lifedhe just posted Business heart. For a new love story between people and work (Il Sole 24 ore) where he analyzes, with passion and competence, the transformations that are sweeping the world of work. We all see the consequences: rather than remain imprisoned in roles and tasks that do not represent them, many are leaving. Or, to do the minimum (quiet quitting). But it’s a pity, because thus talents and energies are lost – especially young and female – useful to society.
Riccarda Zezza, founder and CEO of Lifeed, has just published Cuore business. For a new love story between people and work (Il Sole 24 Ore).
Today there is no longer the idea of accepting any job, as long as it’s a job. What happened?
Work has lost people because people have become something else. Women were the first to bring other dimensions into work, with all their complexity. Followed by young people and men. The work has remained imprisoned in a perimeter but those who are inside try to get out of it, or to give less than they could. And here are the phenomena of great resignations and quiet quitting.
Is excessive rigidity being paid for?
Women, then young people and then men, realized that they have a rich and complex identity, that they are other things that cannot be left out, otherwise they lose energy and useful skills. We are paying the price for not having brought into work the dimension of care which is instead part of us, and which includes love, emotions and long-term vision. The world of work would need these other skills and not just to measure our rational productivity. The world of work needs independent and responsible adults who act with love. Instead we often lose the sense of being agents, proactive. Just think of the word “employees”: in which other sphere of our lives would we accept to be defined like this? But a profound transformation would be needed.
The cover of Riccarda Zezza’s new book.
How to change?
Companies are made up of people, and it is the people themselves who must begin to see themselves differently. It’s a cultural discourse, it’s the imaginary that doesn’t work today. Let’s think of another definition: “maternity leave”, where the word “leave” suggests that someone is leaving. We need a cultural revolution that works for new shared rules, willing to lose much of the existing to create something new. We no longer need to come forward to resemble what is, but to break what is. All workplaces in bad health are those where the traditional rules still work.
In the title of his book he uses the word “love”. What does it mean in the workplace?
We are sentient beings who think. We think through emotions. Love means bringing care, sustainability, long-term vision, new relationships into work. It’s not just about putting love into work but bringing into work a dimension of love that we already experience in other areas. Bringing only one of our dimensions into work, the productive one, is no longer enough. If you do, you end up putting in minimal effort, and the whole society loses out. If we keep out the best in us, we will hardly create a better world. Women already know this.
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED