Is Our Productivity Culture Toxic?

Open to Debate

News, Society & Culture, Education

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The pressure to constantly be productive and achieve has become an aspiration one should aspire. But is this mindset worth the effort? Those claiming it’s toxic argue it creates impossible standards, opening the door for anxiety, burnout, and disconnection. But some argue the problem isn’t productivity itself, but how we’ve come to define success — and the unrealistic expectations that come with it. Now we debate: Is Our Productivity Culture Toxic? Arguing Yes: Jennifer Moss, Workplace Culture Expert; Author of "The Burnout Epidemic" Rahaf Harfoush, Digital Anthropologist and New York Times Best-Selling Author Arguing No: David Allen, Creator of the "Getting Things Done" Time Management Method and Author Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Visit OpentoDebate.org to watch more insightful debates. Take our podcast listener survey here: https://bit.ly/opentodebatesurvey Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on our curated weekly debates, dynamic live events, and educational initiatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
0:05.7	ServiceNow puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration
0:11.2	for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent tools
0:16.9	for your service agents to make customers happier, all built into a single platform you can
0:21.9	use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. This is open to debate. I'm John Donvan. Hi, everybody. This episode,
0:34.8	a debate centering on life in the workplace as you climb up the ladder,
0:38.9	a place where ever-increasing productivity on your part is, if anything, an imperative.
0:44.6	Productivity means dollar-for-dollar that you earn. You are ever more efficient at what you do,
0:48.9	and ideally more innovative and more creative. But, and you knew there was a butt coming,
0:53.1	does the drive for productivity come
0:54.8	at a cost to your mental health, to your ability to achieve a balance in life? Because of what
1:00.0	trying to be more productive means, say, you work while you're on vacation or even skip vacation
1:04.3	altogether, which is how we know some people are handling this. Getting it all right or deciding
1:09.2	this emphasis on productivity is a misplaced priority.
1:12.3	That's what we're looking at in this debate, where we have four debaters and one question,
1:17.0	is our productivity culture toxic? Let's meet our debaters. Answering yes to that question is our
1:22.7	productivity culture toxic. I want to welcome Jennifer Moss. Jennifer is author of The Burnout Epidemic, The Rise of Chronic Stress, and How We Can Fix It. Jennifer, welcome to open the debate. It's great to have you with us.
1:34.1	It's great to be here. And your partner in this debate is Rahaf Harfush, who is a digital anthropologist and bestselling author of several books, including hustle and float.
1:43.6	Reclaim your creativity and thrive Thrive in a World Obsessed
1:46.4	with Work. Rahaf, welcome to the program. Hi, so happy to be here. And here to answer no to the question.
1:52.0	First, we have Amy Edmondson, who is Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School
	...

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