Performing Agency

The moment we reward initiative, we kill it.

Like catching lightning in a bottle, measurement changes what it touches.

A worker who stays late because they care...
Becomes indistinguishable from one who stays late to be seen caring.

This is the initiative trap — when genuine drive becomes performance art.

The intrinsic transforms into extrinsic.
The natural becomes theatrical.
What began as authentic human agency calcifies into compliance.

We chase initiative's shadow while its essence slips away.

All that remains are elaborate displays of what initiative used to be.