A Message from Our CEO – May 2026

“Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think”

— George Orwell

In the workplace, ambition has given way to “being normal.” Some might call it surviving, coping, tolerating.

TikTok is now strewn with terabytes of 7-second video clips of 25-year-olds documenting the routine of everyday life in the office: driving to work, getting coffee, making copies, etc. It’s not Spielberg. It’s not exactly inspirational, but to this new cohort of Gen Z workers, its mildly aspirational. Mostly it is comfort food for troubled souls.

Says Gen Z:

The beauty, the simplicity of a boring, predictable life. Please God, let me be in the middle of the curve—not a genius, and not a pinhead, but the exact midpoint, feeling like I barely exist, where I can shield my 25-year-old self from the existential dread and anxiety of the uneven, uncertain world around me. Coffee is $7.20, we’re at war, and AI is bearing down on me like Pennywise.

I can always be a welder, or a nurse.

But in the meantime, let me document doing normal, some would say, boring things in the office. Keeping my head down. Ruffle no feathers. Repeat these words: “I am totally normal.”

In a way, this individualized fetishization translates into a communal rallying point for Gen Z. Their experience is unique to them and only them. All generations speak in codes— reflecting their own unique age and place in history. This is the dull code. Not hopeful, but not dissatisfied. Merely existing to live this so-called life.

In one video, a 27-year old fist-pumps after he closes his computer at the end of the day. Like he’s Hercules and he just slayed the Hydra. But he didn’t… he just put in a 9-5 day at work. [yawn here].

So, this is a new and unfamiliar development in the workplace for bosses. What do bosses do with this? The good news-- as long as work is rote and unfulfilling, they won’t leave you for greener pastures. You want a robot… you got your robot.

The bad news: You’ve got a robot; programmed to perform just the minimal amount of work—someone that has quiet-quit years ago. No extra effort, no attachment to the company mission. Won’t show up to the Holiday Party with a lampshade on his head. Where’s the fun in that?

Anything. But. Normal.

–Warren