Busy and brilliant are different things

At some point in the last 10-15 years, we started to confuse busyness with progress.

‘Doing more with less’ became an accepted leadership standard - four words that, every time they are uttered, generate weariness and foreboding of a restructure.

Toxic productivity isn't hard work. It’s an expectation that busyness signals commitment. That time spent in meetings or online equal output. That the last person to be unavailable on Teams somehow wins.

It doesn't though. Toxic productivity burns people out, degrades their health and quietly corrodes the very culture leaders claim to care about. Research shows that over 80 per cent of employees are now at risk of burnout. A statistic that is avoidable.

Brilliant work, on the other hand, generates meaningful momentum, it doesn’t waste time and consistently adds value.

We should never mistake activity for achievement.