Part 1: Corporate Positivity Culture is Killing Us
When “positivity” is just code for “shut up and smile,” loyalty dies fast. This is what happens when incompetence gets promoted, chaos gets called culture, and the smartest thing you can do is walk away.
The smile was never for you. It was for the brand.
I once worked ten-hour days for a company I actually wanted to see succeed. Not because the paycheck was great — it wasn’t — but because I believed in the work. I covered gaps, kept the wheels turning, went to bat for my team, even bent over backwards so colleagues could make their kids happy and not to mention working trade shows outside in -25 (-13 °F, for anyone still refusing to join the SI system).
The reward? Being told by HR, “I can’t have people here who are unhappy” — my depression combined with pneumonia and bronchitis caused by blasting AC at work is now apparently a threat to company culture. Translation: put on the happy face or you’re gone.
That’s the real “positivity culture” — weaponized cheerfulness as a control mechanism. It’s not about morale. It’s about optics. Keep up the façade or you’ll be labeled “toxic,” “gossipy,” “not a team player.” I got all three.
