Tim Denning has this idea that most big companies are like daycare for adults. After spending years in two big French companies, Ive never felt this more deeply than I do now.
I was walking to work on a monday morning, happy to bring value to my company (lol). I hopped on my usual bus and started scrolling through articles on my phone. Then, traffic started to build up, horns blaring. A moment later, the bus’s automated voice announced: “We are forced to drop you here due to a manifestation.” Not unusual in France, so I wasn’t too surprised.
I stepped off the bus into the cold—one degree celsius. I walked for about an hour. When I finally approached my company, I saw the source of the chaos: my own colleagues. A fire burned in front of the building, CGT (syndicalist organisation) flags waving.
They looked like kids dressing up, chanting, complaining, waiting for someone else to fix their problems. They need more money, more days off. They look like kids yelling at the teacher in a daycare center.. And that’s what these big companies really are: daycare centers for adults. Everything is structured: schedules, cafeterias, team-building activities. HR is there like daycare staff, making sure no one gets hurt. Employees follow routines, seek approval, and expect someone else to take care of the hard stuff.
When things feel unfair, they throw a strike. They gather outside with signs, convinced they’re fighting the system. But this isn’t rebellion; it’s just another daycare activity. They don’t want to leave. The system gives them just enough security to keep them dependent. So they stay, complain, and blame management, the government, the economy, anyone but themselves.
Because taking control would mean growing up. Taking a risk. Walk into the unknown. And most kids are scared and they would rather stay in daycare.
Incentives to stay are everywhere. When people walk down the street and see homeless individuals, they fear becoming like them if they lose their jobs. What they don’t realize, however, is that in some cases, their lives are just as sad as those of homeless people. Their lives are full of denial; they lie to their inner child, they’re not happy, but realizing this takes too much for most of us, so we prefer to ignore it and blame others.
edit
Honestly, after reading this text again, I realize I wrote it in a state of emotion. This text is what I don’t like: it’s unfounded, lacks depth, and contains many false assumptions. But I still choose to publish it because it’s part of my path in writing. I am practicing writing what I think under emotion because, even though it doesn’t make for an irrefutable text, it still contains some kind of truth.