“Rick has a gift for conveying deep, thought-provoking ideas.”
- Ellen Kelsay, CEO, Business Group on Health
Work is woven into the fabric of modern life — it defines us, consumes us, rewards us, and punishes us.
The Way of Work is for people who are trying to find their place in the world of work.
We explore stories of why we work, how we work, and where work goes from here. This isn’t about surface-level productivity tips or cliché career advice. It’s about exploring the paradoxes of work: the promises it makes, the disappointments it delivers, and ultimately, how we make it work for us.
Check out our series collection to get started.
Manifesto
We all gotta work. But work, only works for some.
Work permeates modern culture.
It’s where we derive not only our paycheck, but our purpose.
Where we build our wealth and also find our self.
It’s our status, our community, our legacy.
Work is the ultimate form of currency.
“What you do” tells the world your value.
Our cultural heroes are the best at work. And the losers don’t work at all.
There seems no greater risk than doing the wrong work.
Work is both the answer and the enemy.
For some, it’s a calling, a source to meaning and fulfillment.
For others, work is a curse, a burden to be avoided.
It’s work’s promise, that makes its disappointment so punishing.
At The Way of Work, we seek to challenge these assumptions. To ask the hard questions and find the answers that go beyond the surface.
“So well written. Sophisticated ideas in refreshingly clear prose.”
- Christopher Morris, PhD, Assistant Professor, George Mason
About Rick Foerster
I’m a Startup Executive turned Writer.
I started as an early employee of a startup and left 12 years later as a senior executive of a $2B+ public company. Before that I was in healthcare consulting. Along the way, I’ve hired hundreds, coached dozens, and tried my best to build my own career.
But I had to face my own reckonings in and out of work.
Early on, it was finding work that would satisfy my appetite for meaning. Then, I immersed myself into my work and turned to how to optimize myself. I battled with burnout and questions about my work-identity.
Now, after a long sabbatical, I’ve realized that others, like me, are grappling with similar questions.
I’m sick of the same shallow bullshit in work advice.
While our questions are deep, the answers out there are shallow. We either get boring basics (“how to be more productive!”) or bombastic BS (“find your passion!”). We waste our lives, trying this-and-that, without getting under the surface of what really matters.
We deserve better. We deserve an exploration into the way work really works. And how we can make it fit into our lives in a way that actually works for us.
