The stories are individual and nuanced, but the pattern is consistent. What they tell us about their people and about themselves is a thing you already know.

When you are doing work that…

you give a shit about

in an environment that supports you

…you are unstoppable. And when you aren’t, you aren’t.

Those two ingredients come up again and again. They’ve been the same ingredients since Andy Grove was writing about them when we were the kids playing with our dessert. They’ve been the same since Drucker before him. There’s a whole trade press devoted to re-discovering and re-naming them every five years. Is it “giving a shit,” or “ambition,” or “employee engagement,” or “hustle”? Is it “Quiet Quitting,” or is it “work to rule,” or is it “presenteeism”?