Productivity The rate at which a company or country makes goods¹

Efficiency The quality of achieving the largest amount of useful work using as little energy, fuel, effort, etc. as possible²

These are concepts that belong to machines—to industry. The fact that we’ve accepted their application to people, without even questioning it, reveals just how deeply we’re immersed in a process of the technical colonizing the human.

Anyone leading a group of people who also has skin in the game—meaning the outcomes of that group’s work directly affect them—will inevitably start to see that group through a mechanized lens. On some level, they stop thinking of those people as people, and begin to see them (in their minds) as a machine. From there, they start demanding productivity, efficiency, optimization—all things that sound good in theory, but are hell in practice.

The way “bosses” behave under this mechanized mindset is familiar: they’re irritable, they speak harshly to employees, they don’t allow time off, and so on. What I haven’t read or heard much about is the internal process that leads to these behaviors.

You don’t do science with just one data point, but I’ll use myself as an example. In my life, I’ve led three teams—Quovis, Nastycloud, and Hidden People Club—where I had skin in the game to varying degrees. In each of these, after a honeymoon phase, when problems started to surface due to unmet expectations, I was overwhelmed by a flood of intrusive, intensely negative thoughts about someone I was working with—if not the whole team. Thoughts that triggered emotions like resentment, disdain, impatience—and other not-so-pretty things.

Unaware of this mechanizing process, those thoughts and emotions—fueled by the occasional external toxic voice—led to behaviors I’m not proud of. The level of self-awareness required to resist these dehumanizing tendencies is incredibly high. That’s part of why I decided to step away from entrepreneurship, at least for now.

This isn’t meant to justify the behavior of people in power. It’s their responsibility not to dehumanize others, to actively unlearn the mechanized mindset, or to have the courage to step down. I just want to pause on a process that, to me, feels intrinsic to hierarchical relationships—and something anyone in a position of power, no matter how small, needs to be aware of.

The gap between expectations and reality creates tension. Sustained over time, that tension gives rise to intrusive, negative thoughts that distort our perception of others—gradually replacing empathy with a mechanical, utilitarian view.

One surprising thing I’ve noticed is that this phenomenon doesn’t even require another person. People who can’t stand corporate work and turn to self-employment as an escape often end up mechanizing themselves—directing those same intrusive thoughts inward. That almost inevitably leads to burnout, if not mental health issues.

Now that I’ve managed to put this into words, I’m sure I’ll stumble across eighty thousand thinkers who’ve already explored this topic. But I’m trying to let go of that repetition anxiety, and instead use writing to synthesize my thoughts—to capture something that’s been spinning around in my head lately.