The Great Disengagement

The Quiet Rebellion Begins WithinThere was a time when we believed the bargain was fair. Work hard, they told us. Be reliable. Go the extra mile. Say yes when asked, stay late when needed, carry the weight when others falter. In return, you'll earn more than a paycheck-you'll earn security, respect, a place in something larger than yourself. You'll build a life, a future, a name. But somewhere along the way, the promise frayed.
The extra mile became the new starting line. Loyalty was met not with protection, but with pink slips and profit reports. The "more" we gave was never enough-and the "enough" we sought never came. And so, quietly, without fanfare or fury, something shifted. Not a walkout-but a withdrawal. Not a refusal to work-but a refusal to disappear into it. Not laziness-but clarity. People began to do their jobs-fully, faithfully, with excellence-but stopped giving what was never theirs to give: their nights, their peace, their self-worth, their unguarded emotional energy.
They logged off at 5 p.m. and meant it. They stopped answering Slack at midnight. They let the performative hustle fall away, not out of apathy, but out of love-for their time, their families, their sanity, their lives. This book is not a manifesto against work. It is a reclamation of it. The Great Disengagement is not about quitting. It's about waking up. It's about recognizing that no job is worth your soul.
That boundaries are not walls-they are the architecture of dignity. That doing your job well, within the hours you're paid for, is not the bare minimum-it is professionalism in its purest form. What you're about to read is both diagnosis and invitation. A diagnosis of a system that confuses exhaustion with excellence, presence with performance, and availability with commitment. And an invitation-to leaders, to workers, to all of us-to build something better.
Not by burning the whole thing down, but by drawing a single, sacred line: This is my work. This is my life. They are not the same. The future of work won't be won with louder voices or longer hours. It will be won in the quiet moments when someone chooses themselves-and in doing so, gives others permission to do the same. This is where transformation begins. Not with a shout. But with a boundary.
Not with resignation. But with reclamation. Welcome to the Great Disengagement. And, if we're brave enough, the Great Reengagement-with work that honors us, and lives that are truly ours.