What is it about working in an office that inevitably (and usually pretty quickly) makes even the most creative and vibrant of us into Dilbertesque clock-watchers?

Is it that “the man” really is beating us down? Is it that everyone else has already succumbed, so why shouldn’t we? Or do we try not to recognize what we have become (equating our better selves with our “skinny jeans,” that we bring out on Saturday nights or when we happen to feel like it).

We cannot overlook what is happening, people! When you start using words like stakeholders, growth limitations, springboard, or customer-facing, the issue has grown and become real and undeniable. You have become a person for whom Dilbert and office mind games have real significance, if not practical application.

But don’t panic! There is a solution, though not a pretty one. As any zombie afficiando will tell you, the only way to stop the disease is to immobilize the carrier. To do this you must destroy the brain.

You say, “No! Not my precious brain! I love it so and it’s been with me so long!” But ask yourself, are you really using it these days?