This is the quiet truth of institutional work: improvement doesn't buy freedom. It buys responsibility without ownership.

This guest essay by longtime correspondent 0bserver describes the core dynamics of work in America and the global economy: if we don't own our work, we only "rent" our income and the life it funds. I discuss the process of owning your work in my book Get A Job, Build a Real Career and Defy a Bewildering Economy. The system doesn't make it easy to own your work, and this isn't accidental.

Modern work promises freedom but delivers dependence. The language is flattering–flexibility, opportunity, growth–but the structure is rigid. You don't own the work. You rent access to it. Your time, attention, and energy are leased month to month, contingent on priorities you do not control.