Who is a corporate zombie?

Zombie (n): A dead body that has been brought back to life by a supernatural force.

The essence of any life on this earth is the purpose. Take that away from any living being, you get a fully-functional zombie. Even an ant lives a disciplined life if you closely look at their impeccable line and the masterpiece architecture of the molehills. No matter how minuscule they seem to appear, the do not give away the purpose for what they were created. But, that’s not the case with human beings. We were created to destroy The Creation itself.

“We are our own devils; we drive ourselves out of our Edens.”

- Wolfgang Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet & philosopher

Even the philosophers in the 17^th century foretold about the fact that human beings could wreak apocalyptic havoc on this planet. Though we were created as a unique breed meant to bring about a phenomenal change to this world, all we could do is mindlessly trash our earth and use our superior intelligence in finding new planets to continue doing what we’d abruptly end here. That’s not called progress or scientific advancement. That is simply insulting our nature’s blessings. Nevertheless, this article isn’t pro-environmentalist or anti-environmentalist. This is purely about destroying oneself from within and living with it until we officially draw our last breath.

As entrepreneurs, employees or servants, we all believe that chaos is the root of all kinds of destruction. Also, there’s greed that drives us all towards the end of us. But, that’s not the sole culprit. The story about a catastrophic professional life begins with a person with ethics in an unethical organization. Either the person destroys the company and rebuilds it in a new light, or the person is consumed by the dark forces that overpower his optimism. Nevertheless, chaos prevails. The corporate can make a corpse out of a charismatic leader, and also a charlatan. It all depends on where you would like to root yourself.

"Relativity applies to physics, not ethics."

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Physicist and Nobel Laureate

When it comes to brutally murdering ethics in an organization, it starts from the top. No human being is born unethical. It is only the determination to succeed, that gets swarmed by a ravenous appetite for the apocalypse. Science can allow you to explore galaxies light years away from our Milky Way, but no amount of scientific research can bring back ethics into a corrupted organization. The virus of self-destruction is already infected deeply into all levels of management and the host is the person sitting on top of the pyramid, or in this case, the food chain. Working with utmost integrity is a trait that only a chosen few possess. Being part of a system that cannot be changed is what frustrates the living hell out of any individual. Trying to be that change the organization needs, is truly a nerve-wracking extreme sport. Slowly, when that integrity within an individual begins to fade away, the corporate zombie begins to take over the host body and transforms into “Employee”. It doesn’t matter if the host was a bibliophile, ailurophile, dendrophile, or even a logophile. If the person within has been left with no purpose to serve his inner-self, the reason to breathe and the reason to work would never complement one another. As long as the passion to perform is kindled by a spark of inspiration, there’s hope for the corporate zombie to be human again.

“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”

- Simon Sinek, Author of “Start with WHY”

Today’s corporate world doesn’t require employees with emotions. They only need machines with unlimited capacity to deliver without complaining. If the company pays a little attention to their needs along with the salary, employees will definitely deliver beyond expectations. Nobody in the world deserves to be disrespected in any manner. Be it by underpaying an employee, or underestimating their capabilities, or just by ignoring the hard work they put in every single day. Human beings aren’t that complicated as the world has made it seem. People simply need to be recognized for what they’ve done. When the management starts respecting the work and pays the due credits wherever the employees deserve it, the work environment will change drastically. Few managers have the habit to become friendly with employees to take advantage of their good behaviour and extract work out of them. Some genuinely treat employees as friends and help them out in difficult situations. While there are some breed of managers who sincerely hope for their employees to grow and outrank them. Many managers are under the impression that emotions and performance are inversely proportional. Do your work and go home. This is what they truly believe. But, they tend to forget one crucial part of the whole story. They work so that they can go home. Take that luxury away from an employee, and all you will get is a corporate zombie that belongs to a dark abysmal nothingness of an organization.

You either break-free from such shackles or accept slavery. You do not belong in a cemetery if you’re still breathing. You do not complain and continue doing the mundane. You do not deserve any limelight if you keep serving the darkness. You go with the flow like dead fish or swim out of the storm. That’s the moral of the story. You are either a human being making mistakes or you are a corporate zombie that feels nothing.