From Donna's Desk
There are two kinds of people in an organization.
The first kind sees a weird little thing on someone else’s desk, a mascot, an inside joke, a tiny symbol of morale, and thinks, “Oh, that’s nice. They're showing personality.”
The second kind sees the same thing and thinks, “Great. That’s an untracked resource.”
I work with a lot of the second kind.
Because in corporate life, the fastest way to turn something joyful into something exhausting is to introduce a form called Utilization.
Utilization sounds responsible, like we are being thoughtful stewards. What it often means is simple: if I can measure it, I can claim it. If I can claim it, I can leverage it. If I can leverage it, I can move it to wherever it benefits me most, while calling it policy so no one can object without sounding “difficult.”
This is how some people operate. They do not take a thing because they need it. They take it because they want to control the story of it.
Call it an asset, and now it is company property.
Call it engagement, and now it is a program.
Call it parity, and now it is inevitable.
And parity matters. Real parity means everyone has what they need to do the work.
Corporate parity has a shadow version. It shows up when someone wants to turn fairness into a crowbar.
Shadow parity says, “If your department has it, mine deserves it.”
It says, “If it works over there, we should standardize it.”
It says, “If it is not documented, it does not exist.”
And then it says, “Since it exists, we will redistribute it.”
The paperwork always looks clean. The form never says, “I would like to borrow your culture and run it through a shredder.” It says, “Asset parity reallocation request.” Paper is very polite when it is taking something.
So yes. A certain someone now has possession of a certain something. I do not yet know what he plans to do with it, but I do know what he believes he did.
He believes he acquired leverage.
What I am wondering is whether he actually acquired what he thinks he acquired, or whether he just adopted a small, determined set of resources with strong personalities and zero interest in being leveraged.
Because you can inventory staplers. You can inventory laptops. You can inventory chairs.
You cannot inventory the thing that makes a team work.
And when someone tries, reality has a way of pushing back.
If you have ever watched something good and human get captured by process and repurposed as an “initiative,” I see you.
Policy is a tool.
It is not a leash.
Donna
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