Michelle: Alright, Mark, I have a radical proposition for you. What if the secret to getting ahead in your career, to being more productive and more successful, isn't working harder... but strategically working less? What if being a 'slacker' is actually a superpower? Mark: Hold on. A 'slacker' as a superpower? My entire life I've been told the opposite. The person who stays latest, who answers emails at 10 PM, that's the person who gets the promotion. You're telling me my high school guidance counselor was wrong? Michelle: Completely, fundamentally wrong, according to our book today. That's the provocative idea at the heart of the book we're diving into: 'Betting on You' by Laurie Ruettimann. Mark: Laurie Ruettimann... isn't she the 'Punk Rock HR' lady? The one who's been in HR for decades but talks like she's trying to dismantle it from the inside? Michelle: Exactly. She’s a veteran HR leader, but she’s famous for her no-nonsense, anti-corporate-speak approach. And she wrote this book in early 2021, right as the world was hitting peak pandemic burnout. It became this incredibly timely guide for anyone feeling like the work system is fundamentally broken. Mark: Which was, let's be honest, pretty much everyone. The Great Resignation was just around the corner. Michelle: Precisely. And her core argument is that before you can even think about fixing your job or changing the world, you have to fix yourself first. And that journey begins with her first big, counter-intuitive idea: embracing 'slackerism'.

Mark: Okay, I have to push back on the term. 'Slackerism' sounds like an excuse to be lazy and watch Netflix during work hours. What does she actually mean by that? Michelle: It's less about laziness and more about strategic detachment. Ruettimann argues that so many of us define our entire identity by our job title. We're a 'VP of Communications' or a 'Senior Analyst.' This career identity becomes toxic because it makes work the center of our universe, and when work is inevitably frustrating, our whole world crumbles. Mark: I can see that. Your job title becomes your self-worth. A bad day at work means you, as a person, are failing. Michelle: Exactly. So 'slacking' is the act of intentionally deprioritizing work to reclaim your identity. It's about setting firm boundaries, detaching emotionally from the office drama, and reinvesting that energy into your actual life—your health, your relationships, your hobbies. Mark: That sounds a lot like 'self-care,' which is a term that gets thrown around a lot. Michelle: Ah, but she has a huge critique of the modern self-care industry. She tells this funny story about her husband, Ken, a PhD chemical engineer, who went to a therapist. The therapist asked him about his self-care habits, and Ken, being completely outside this wellness bubble, genuinely thought she was asking about masturbation. Mark: Wow. That is… a very literal interpretation. But it kind of proves her point, right? The term has become this commercialized buzzword for bath bombs and expensive yoga retreats. Michelle: That’s her whole point. She says true self-care isn't about consumerism. It's about the boring, foundational stuff: getting enough sleep, eating nutritious food, moving your body, and having meaningful connections. It's not a product you can buy; it's a practice you have to build. And this is where the story of a woman named Deanna comes in. It’s the perfect illustration of strategic slacking in action. Mark: Okay, give me the story. How does this work in the real world? Michelle: Deanna was the classic high-achiever. VP of Communications at a big digital media company. She’d done everything right her whole life—top of her class, excelled in sports, climbed the corporate ladder for 15 years. And she was miserable. Utterly burned out. Mark: I know that feeling. It’s the 'arrival fallacy.' You get the title you always wanted and you just feel... empty. Michelle: Totally. She was working insane hours, neglecting her family, her health was suffering, and she was relying on medication just to cope. She went to Ruettimann for career advice, probably expecting tips on how to find a new, better job. Instead, Ruettimann told her to become a slacker at her current one. Mark: That must have been a shock. "Pay me for career advice, and my advice is to do less." Michelle: Deanna was definitely hesitant. She was worried about how her team would perceive her. But they brainstormed. How could she work less but still be effective? The answer wasn't just on her; it was about changing the team's culture. So Deanna did something brave. She got her team together and had an honest conversation about burnout and after-hours communication. Mark: That takes guts. How did the team react? Michelle: They were relieved! It turned out everyone was feeling the same pressure. Together, they created what they called a 'rules-of-the-road' template. It set clear expectations: no non-emergency emails after 6 PM. If something was a true emergency, you had to text. If it wasn't, it could wait until morning. They defined what an 'emergency' actually was, which, it turns out, almost nothing is. Mark: I love that. It’s not just one person setting a boundary; it’s the whole team agreeing on a new social contract. What was the result? Michelle: It was staggering. Deanna reported a 90% reduction in after-hours 'emergencies.' Ninety percent! Suddenly, she had her evenings back. She had time for her family, for her health. She felt more balanced, more connected, and ironically, more effective at her job because she was no longer running on fumes. She saved her career not by hustling harder, but by intentionally slacking off. Mark: That's incredible. It reframes the problem. The issue isn't that you're not working hard enough; it's that the system is designed for perpetual, unsustainable work. And you can only fix it by consciously, and collectively, stepping away. Michelle: That's the core of the first half of the book. You fix your world by fixing yourself first. By reclaiming your time and identity from a job that will take everything you're willing to give.

Michelle: But fixing yourself is only the first step. Ruettimann is very clear: once you've built that internal foundation, you need practical tools to navigate the broken external system. And the most powerful one she offers is something called a 'premortem'. Mark: Premortem. That sounds… morbid. Like an autopsy before the person has even died. Michelle: That's a perfect analogy! It's exactly that: a pre-autopsy for a project or a decision. The psychologist Gary Klein developed the technique. Before you kick off a major initiative, you gather your team and say, "Okay, fast forward six months. The project has failed spectacularly. It's a total disaster. Now, let's spend the next 15 minutes writing down every possible reason why it failed." Mark: Huh. So you're not asking 'what might go wrong?' You're stating definitively 'it has gone wrong' and working backward from there. Michelle: Precisely. It’s a subtle but powerful psychological shift. It frees people from the pressure of being optimistic and gives them permission to raise doubts and concerns without seeming negative. And the data shows it improves the chances of success by over 30 percent. To understand its power, you have to look at the most tragic example of what happens when a premortem doesn't happen: the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Mark: Oh wow. Okay, this just got very real. Michelle: In January 1986, an engineer named Bob Ebeling and his team at the contractor company knew the O-rings on the rocket boosters could fail in cold weather. The night before the launch, temperatures in Florida were predicted to drop below freezing. Ebeling and his colleagues pleaded with their bosses and with NASA to postpone the launch. They essentially performed an informal premortem. They said, "If we launch tomorrow, the shuttle could explode." Mark: And they were ignored. I remember watching it in school. It was horrifying. Michelle: They were overruled. The pressure to launch was too immense. Organizational politics, a desire to stick to the schedule... all of it trumped the clear-eyed prediction of failure. The next day, the Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts. It's a heartbreaking, large-scale example of what happens when you don't listen to the premortem. Mark: That's a powerful and chilling story. It makes the concept feel incredibly high-stakes. But how does this apply to an average person's career? We're not launching space shuttles. Michelle: Well, Ruettimann brings it down to a very personal level with a story of her own failure. She co-founded a tech startup called GlitchPath. The entire premise of the company was to help other businesses use the premortem technique to avoid failure. Mark: Wait, so her company's product was literally the premortem? That’s meta. Michelle: Incredibly meta. And here's the irony: the startup failed. It fell apart completely. And when she looked back, she realized why. The team was made up of busy people with other full-time jobs. There was a lack of commitment, poor communication, and unequal work distribution. They were so focused on building a tool to help others predict failure that they never turned that tool on themselves. Mark: Oh, the irony is painful. They failed to conduct a premortem on their own premortem company. Michelle: Exactly. She writes that if they had, they would have immediately identified the fatal flaw: "Our team isn't fully committed and doesn't have the time to make this work." It's a perfect, small-scale example. The premortem isn't just for billion-dollar projects; it's for your career move, for starting a side hustle, for taking on a new role. It's about asking, "If I take this job and I'm miserable in a year, what would have been the most likely cause?" Mark: I can see how that would be useful. It forces you to confront the potential downsides head-on, instead of just getting swept up in the excitement of a new opportunity. It’s about being your own HR department, your own risk-assessment team, because, as she argues, the company's HR department isn't there to protect you. Michelle: Not at all. She has a whole chapter on that, filled with horror stories from her career. Her ultimate point is that you are the only one who has your back. And that extends to the final act of a job: quitting. She even advocates for negotiating a severance package when you resign. Mark: Now that's a bold move. Most people think you only get severance if you're laid off. Michelle: But she tells the story of a client, Tamara, who found a new job with a 20% raise. Her current company was restructuring, so Tamara reviewed their layoff policy, scheduled a meeting with her boss and HR, and basically said, "I'm resigning, but given the current restructuring, I'd like to be considered for the severance package." And they gave it to her! Eighteen weeks of pay. Mark: Wow. That's betting on yourself in the most literal way possible. It takes so much courage. Michelle: It does. But that's the whole philosophy of the book. It's about shifting your mindset from being a passive employee to being the active agent of your own career. You slack strategically, you use premortems to de-risk your decisions, and you leave on your own terms, with dignity and maybe even some extra money in your pocket.

Michelle: When you put it all together, you have this powerful one-two punch for taking back control. First, you do the internal work. You detach your identity from your job title and embrace strategic slacking to fix your own well-being. You build an internal fortress of self-worth that isn't dependent on your boss's approval. Mark: That's the 'Fix Yourself First' part. You stop the bleeding. You get your energy and perspective back. Michelle: Exactly. Then, once you're on solid ground internally, you use proactive tools like the premortem to navigate the external world. You become your own HR department, your own strategist. You're no longer just reacting to what the company throws at you; you're anticipating, planning, and making moves that serve your interests. Mark: I love that. It feels less like you're a victim of your job and more like you're the CEO of your own career. It’s a shift from powerlessness to agency. Michelle: That’s the perfect way to put it. It’s about reclaiming agency. The world of work might be broken, but you don't have to be broken along with it. Mark: So what's the one thing someone listening can do this week to start putting this into practice? It feels like a big mindset shift. Michelle: It is, but you can start small. Ruettimann would say to try a mini-premortem. The next time you have a big meeting, a presentation, or a project kickoff, just take five minutes beforehand. Sit down and ask yourself one question: "If this goes horribly wrong, what would be the most likely reason?" Mark: Just that one question. It’s simple but it forces you to look at the biggest vulnerability. Michelle: It does. It’s not about spiraling into anxiety; it's about identifying the single biggest threat so you can shore up your defenses against it. It's a small act of betting on yourself. Mark: That's a great challenge. And a much better use of five minutes than scrolling through social media, which is my usual pre-meeting ritual. We'd love to hear how it goes for our listeners. Let us know if you try it. Michelle: This is Aibrary, signing off.