Nothing is on fire

Methinks you need something better to do

“A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”
–African Proverb

Some folks describe their day job as “putting out fires.” Consider avoiding these people at all costs. They harbor a deeply troubling point of view on the nature of work and it might be contagious. Because the simple truth is this: Nothing is on fire.

Unless you work in a kitchen, or on an oil rig, or drive a big red truck around, there’s probably nothing on fire at your place of work. Nevertheless, a knowledge worker will blithely deploy this incendiary metaphor for matters such as:

• A delay in an arbitrary release date

• A typo on the company blog

• An email that was somewhat misunderstood

• Something-something go to market strategy

Who cares? There are such things as fires (you know, that thing that actually kills people and destroys cities) and none of these namby-pamby corporate trip-ups are fires. They are “oopsies” at best. No one cares about your company blog.

And putting out fires isn’t that noble when these “fires” keep happening. So consider doing less. Or focusing on the right metrics. Or seeking out a compromise that’s easier to acheive.

Instead of running around with a fire extinguisher, maybe put down the matches and the megaphone. Unwarranted urgency may be causing these “fires” in the first place.