We're letting the pace of growth be set by the wrong people

Walking up the steps towards the front door to her office, Heather clutches her coffee and braces herself. The building towers over her, almost appearing to be toppling forward against the moving sky. Her day looms every bit as large, every bit as menacing.

That she's even walking up the steps at all at this time is something of a miracle: Last night's call didn't finish until 1am, and only ended then because Ella fell asleep and hit her head on her desk, prompting Martin to check the time, add five hours, and suggest that for the sake of everyone in London it might be best to call it a day.

She turns her left shoulder towards the revolving door and pushes her way into the lobby, catching Ashok's eyes as he spins in the other direction. "Wow, he doesn't look good," she thinks. "Was he here all night?"

The cleaner moves the floor polisher in great vibrating arcs around him, appearing only to be half in control of where it goes. Heather dances out of the way, arm outstretched to stop her coffee spilling, flashes him a smile, jumps the trailing flex and runs for the lift.

Fifteen floors of silence, in the great British tradition. Look up, look down. Look at your phone whether you need to or not. The doors slide back and she steps forward, a Christian to the lions. "I can't keep this up" she thinks as she rounds the corner of the meeting room she's already supposed to be in. "Why is it like this?"

Good question.

Let's be clear about one thing first: It was never meant to be easy, work. That's kind of the deal. But it shouldn't be so tough that it's unsustainable, should it? It shouldn't leave you needing help from doctors, should it? So, why is that what it so often does?

The answer is, on one level, highly complex. It's a socio-economic mille-feuille containing remnants of the industrial revolution, barrelling digitisation and human greed. Which, by the way, means that it's very much of our own doing. We're in this mess because we put ourselves here.

But it's also very simple: The pace of growth in our businesses is being set by the wrong people. It's being set either by shareholders, who tend to know little about the health of a company beyond the profits it generates or the movement of its share price, by customers, who generally only care about getting the product or service they want, or by senior executives, who are often so drunk on money that they've lost the ability to think clearly.

It's worth acknowledging that the average employee has played a part here, too, having subordinated their own health and wellbeing to the pursuit of money-making for so long. They've been happy to do dance to the tune being played by shareholders, customers or senior executives because they've believed it to be in their interests to do so.

However, as Heather is quickly coming to realise, that act of subordination might not be as smart as she's always assumed it to be, nor as sustainable. There is a very real danger that more days like the one she's having today will lead to her deciding that she can't keep it up any longer - or being told the same thing by her doctor - and quitting. Shareholders can't see that and nor can customers. Senior executives have acknowledged that Heather's health and well-being are important, but haven't yet handed her the power she really needs to look after them properly. They want her to be looked after while she continues to dance to the beat of their drum, but aren't willing to confront the more uncomfortable truth; that what Heather really needs more than anything else is to be able to set the beat. She needs the boundaries of her health and well-being to be the boundaries of the company's rate of growth. She, like her colleagues, needs it to say no to growth that can't be delivered safely.

Senior executives are going to be confronted with this truth pretty soon if they haven't already been, because the dominant cannon-fodder strategy, which relies more than anything else on there being a steady supply of new troops to replace the ones who fall, is coming under strain. People are falling and the line of people waiting to replace them is wearing dangerously thin. The message is clear: In future, the rate at which a company grows needs to be set not by shareholders, customers or senior executives. It needs to be set by employees.