Naked at work

Metaphorically...

Hi! My name is Bree, and I write about how to have better days at work (and in life). Subscribe for writing on everything from building cozy teams to living a Portfolio Life. You’ll also be the first to know about book launch events and giveaways—Today Was Fun will hit bookstores July 2025!

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This is the third time now that I’ve tried to write this post. Whenever I go through periods of feeling like an indoor cat and not wanting to put my voice into the world, it’s hard to get back. It’s my inner critic saying, “Well now you’ve waited so long it has to be good.” She’s a real asshole.

Last night I went to a book signing for Amie McNee whose book We Need Your Art launched yesterday. I went partially because I love her Substack, and partially because if I’m going to do a book event in July I should probably know what one looks like. She spoke so very passionately about why art matters, and specifically, why your art matters.

I was reminded of why books like The Artist’s Way, The War of Art, The Creative Act and now Amie’s are so needed. ART IS HARD.

Maybe not all authors of business/leadership/work books would call their books art. Many in fact consider them very thick business cards designed to help them sell—and that’s just fine. But my book is not that. My book is art.

I shared it with a friend who’s helping me with the launch—someone I’ve worked with for years—and he said, “It’s funny because I know so much more about you now, but you don’t know more about me.”

And that was exactly right.

Creating art and sharing it feels like showing up naked in front of a bunch of readers wearing clothes.

If (when?!) you read the book you’ll find a part of my soul—like a literary horcrux but not evil. You’ll read about the loss of my mother, the anti-anxiety meds I was on, and my greatest hope for you and me as we spend each day of our finite lives. And this, in a book about WORK.

Because work is PERSONAL. Erin Brokovich told us so 25 years ago!

I wrote it because I want SO MUCH MORE for us, for our working days.

The text below was between me and my friend Sue who features prominently in the book describing her experience working with design legend, Milton Glaser (she’s also writing her own book on Milton!):

We’ve made work so efficient, so professional, so inhuman, that we’ve forgotten that work is still self-expression. Even in an individual role, even if you work the register of a coffee shop, you’re still expressing what YOU believe is the best way to work the register of a coffee shop. And company brands? That’s just the collective self-expression of the organization.

You know what great expression requires? Not more efficiency. Not more professionalism. It requires GETTING NAKED (intellectually, anyway) and saying what you really think. It requires searching for the miracles, the ahas, the ideas that fucking delight you and produce something so compelling that customers can’t wait to buy it and employees can’t wait to make it even better. It requires imagination and all the other things that get duly stamped out of 30-minute agenda-led meetings and strategic planning processes. It requires quieting our asshole inner critics.

Caveats. I’m not saying you should…

• devote so much to your work it consumes you

• devote less energy to your creative pursuits outside work

• bring every personal experience into your work

• give away your ideas without being compensated

But while you ARE working, why the hell not have some fun? Express yourself? Make some art?

Some phrases that might help you shed a layer:

• I think we should…

• Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we…

• I think the world would be better if x, so we should make y…

• You know what would be fun? If we…

• Don’t you want to…

• I want to…

Business is not the same as art of course. Business requires a business model that functions. But business without art within it? Without some expression that draws customers and clients in? It’s bad business. And more importantly, it’s BORING business.

We deserve better.

We deserve to be delighted.

Even on a Monday.

Express yourself.