Against hero work

Ben Cotton has a short and smart post about avoiding “hero” work—that is, the kind of work where you do whatever it takes to get something done, even if what it takes is hard on your spirit, body, and kin. There are lots of good reasons to never go into hero mode but Cotton calls out one in particular: that it’s something of an anti-pattern for building a sustainable culture. The conditions necessary for hero work are the same conditions that most people describe as toxic; every all-nighter and skipped kid’s birthday party is one more dose of poison. Eventually, as in any tragedy, the hero is abandoned as people leave for safer shores. Every opportunity for a hero is then also an opportunity for something better: a collective, thoughtful, and creative response that doesn’t treat people as a disposable resource.