What is work? How do you, personally, define it? I mean, how do you actually see it in your mind? What thoughts and feelings are associated with it for you? Is it something that is a critical part of your life; a duty, a calling, a battleground, a grind or more of a background function that supports what you see as your “real” life? Are you working to live or living to work? Are you engaged with your organisation? Are you resistant to The Man? Are you empowered by your working role? Are you coerced to be less than you could be by an uncaring system?

I don’t know what work is. I know what a job is and I can’t really say that I’m a fan of that particular socio-economic arrangement, well at least as it currently exists. I have done a lot of jobs in my working life. Obviously some of my many roles have been better than others and some of those better roles have also managed to increase their nostalgic capital over time (i.e. they’re remembered more fondly now that I don’t have to do them anymore and after having done far worse roles since); other roles have virtually disappeared from my memory. But hang on, if I don’t know what work is why would I want to write about it? Well, for me it’s a meditation. Work is a wider subject than just jobs.

I want to try to begin an open conversation here. I want to manifest a space for debate and open civil and professional contributions, for experimental collaboration and healthy competition, to document contemporary ideas and attitudes and to create new knowledge and possibilities. I want to discuss the idea of work from every (and any) angle. I don’t want an authoritative definition of what work is. What I want is to make you to think about work differently.