The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil Wears Prada is quite an old book now, but I think it is a timely reminder of the powers at work in the office. And more and more offices are transforming into the sort of high-pressure, total-commitment environment we see in this book in the world of high fashion.
The book starts with a young woman who wants to be a serious writer and has no interest in fashion landing a job at a thinly disguised version of Vogue HQ, working for a thinly disguised Nuclear Winter - Anna Wintour. Who is in this book the quintessential unreasonable and demanding boss. We then see Andrea, the young woman at the center of the book, who wants to be a real journalist, transformed into a vacuous fashionista with no personal life who lives for the job.
The journey is of course very funny, but it leaves the poor heroin in a terrible state. She almost has her life destroyed by work, and this is what is happening more and more across the economy. As even the most ordinary jobs pushing paper at an unremarkable firm become as coveted, rare and competitive as a high fashion magazine job, we are all at risk from the dangers described in the book, except the clothes aren't as good.
We are all starting to have bosses that demand too much of us. we all have jobs that thousands of other people are constantly trying to get. We are all surrounded by colleagues who have bought into the company philosophy 100% and just don't understand someone who might want the slightest work life balance. We are all under the same pressure as Andrea.
The only question is, when the job has taken as much from us as it does from Andrea, and given precious little in return, or even shown much in the way of gratitude or respect, will we have the courage to do what she does at the end of the book?
I urge anyone under mounting pressure at work to give it a read. it's fun, and it might just give some insight into what is going on at your dysfunctional office too.
The book starts with a young woman who wants to be a serious writer and has no interest in fashion landing a job at a thinly disguised version of Vogue HQ, working for a thinly disguised Nuclear Winter - Anna Wintour. Who is in this book the quintessential unreasonable and demanding boss. We then see Andrea, the young woman at the center of the book, who wants to be a real journalist, transformed into a vacuous fashionista with no personal life who lives for the job.
The journey is of course very funny, but it leaves the poor heroin in a terrible state. She almost has her life destroyed by work, and this is what is happening more and more across the economy. As even the most ordinary jobs pushing paper at an unremarkable firm become as coveted, rare and competitive as a high fashion magazine job, we are all at risk from the dangers described in the book, except the clothes aren't as good.
We are all starting to have bosses that demand too much of us. we all have jobs that thousands of other people are constantly trying to get. We are all surrounded by colleagues who have bought into the company philosophy 100% and just don't understand someone who might want the slightest work life balance. We are all under the same pressure as Andrea.
The only question is, when the job has taken as much from us as it does from Andrea, and given precious little in return, or even shown much in the way of gratitude or respect, will we have the courage to do what she does at the end of the book?
I urge anyone under mounting pressure at work to give it a read. it's fun, and it might just give some insight into what is going on at your dysfunctional office too.
Comments
Post a Comment