🛠 TREE 146: There are no hierarchies of humanity

The way we humans organise ourselves is with hierarchies of organisation – lots of them. They all boil down to a few people in charge and most people not in charge. 

Hierarchies of organisation help societies to function. But they have nothing to tell us about human value. There are no hierarchies of humanity. Sadly, lots of people act like there are. You don’t have to.

At work – which is what I will be writing about for the next couple weeks – your boss deserves the same respect as the cleaner, the same respect as you. Yes, you have to do what your boss says. But that’s a function of organisation, not of value.

Recognising everyone’s equality of human value helps me with at least three things at work.

1. Not being intimidated by a people with a higher rank or larger pay packet.

2. Treating my own contributions with value.

3. (Possibly my favourite) not getting sucked into office politics.

There are more book, blogs and interviews with and about the people in charge than you could get through in a lifetime. Many of them are full of fantastic lessons. There aren’t so many about the the people not in charge. I think that’s silly. Most of us, including me, are not in charge. We are serving the visions of others. This is often true in the creative and service industries even when you are a boss. You build other people’s brands, other people’s albums, other people’s events. Over the next couple weeks I will share some thoughts about living that TREE life when you earn your money serving someone else’s vision.

Those of you who don’t work a typical job needn’t worry. Like today’s email, much of what I write will have application beyond paid employment. You’re all creative thinkers, so you’ll see that easily.

Grow slowly.

Jeff

One of the things I love about hip hop artists is that they celebrate their work ethic. I’ve been listening to Little Simz’ GREY Area at least a couple times a week for a while. It’s so good!

The Memory of TREE playlist – every song from every email: