31 Cartoons for Overworked Professionals
Not sure if they will make you laugh or cry...
This week I’m not sharing a visual book, but a personal challenge I did this year; for 1 month (October), I drew a cartoon every day!
As it would be too simple, I also added 3 conditions, each drawing should:
1) Be related to Work Culture (& you as an overworked professional )
2) Follow the daily prompt of Inktober
3) Follow the daily emotion of EmoViztober (from the great Eva-Lotta Lamm)
I like the most my drawing for day 6, 16th, and the fan’s favorite day 30. What are yours?
Hope you enjoy the Journey!
DAY 1 - Dream 💭 & Happy 🙂
What do you want to be when you grow up?
“Happy!” -John Lennon
DAY 2 - Spider 🕷️ & Angry 😡
DAY 3 - Path 〰️ & In love 💓
"Squiggly career" is the term introduced by Helen Tupper & Sarah Ellis in the book of the same name.
It describes careers that don't follow the traditional "Career ladder", they change more often, are uncertain, but also allow to follow your passion or embrace unexpected opportunities.
DAY 4 - Dodge 💨 & Sad 😭
Be careful what you wish for!
DAY 5 - Map 🗺️ 💨 & Calm 😌
The always evolving AI landscape...
DAY 6 - Golden 🪙 💨 & Scared 😨
"AI won’t replace humans — But humans with AI will replace humans without AI"
DAY 7 - Drip💧 💨 & Content 🙂
“Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose” - Daniel Pink’s Framework for what motivates us.
DAY 8 - Toad 🐸 💨 & Ashamed 🙈
Following the “HIPPO” or Highest Paid Person’s Opinion…
DAY 9 - Bounce 🦘 💨 & Excited 😆💥
One of the main benefit of the Agile methodology: The focus !
New tasks? No problem. They get organized in the backlog, and tackled one sprint at a time, ensuring we can focus on our original goals.
DAY 10 - Fortune 💰 & Jealous 😒
When life gives you lemons…
DAY 11 - Wander 💭〰️ & Proud 😎
Not all who wander are lost... Some are following their curiosity!
Shower-thoughts, breakthrough during a walk in the forest, we know that letting our mind wander can help us find new creative ideas.
DAY 12 - Spicy 🌶️ & Disgust 🤢
Giving negative feedback is tricky, in 📚 “Radical Candor”, Kim Scott's say we should:
- Challenge directly
- Care personally
DAY 13 - Rise ⬆️ & Joyful 😄
Flexible work…
DAY 14 - Castle 🏰 & Lonely 😞
Building castles in the air…
Empathy must be the foundation!
DAY 15 - Dagger 🗡️ & Surprised 😯
Life is rarely simple…
Acknowledging complexity, finding where people really are in the spectrum of opinions, the nuances of greys, is a good start to make better decisions and progress together.
DAY 16 - Angel 😇 & Nervous 😬
Shining individually or as a team?
It is probably time to rethink performance assessment, putting the incentives in the right place.
DAY 17 - Demon 👿 & Relaxed 😌
What qualities do you value in modern leaders? 🤔
For me, it's not the flashy charisma, but more about the ability to:
- Recognize the strengths of your team,
- Embrace creative thinking,
- Prioritize,
- Show empathy.
DAY 18 - Saddle 🏇 & Stressed 😫
Unbridled productivity!
After a while, processes or way of doing things are rarely re-adjusted to the current size and reality of the teams doing the work...
DAY 19 - Plump 🔴 & Trusting 😌
Can too much psychological safety be bad?
No. But it is not a panacea. For example, leaders still need to encourage high standards of excellence and have the right values in place.
DAY 20 - Frost ❄️ & Frustrated 😠
DAY 21 - Chains ⛓️ & Interested 🧐
Why we need errors...
Learning happens when our brain realizes that its predictions didn't match the reality.
So the key element is surprise!
DAY 22 - Scratchy 🦔 & Bored 🥱
Do you know the "Awestruck effect"?
It is experienced when we hear a charismatic leader speak. Our mental resources are focused on suppressing emotion, so while we have the impression of remembering more, it is actually the opposite...
DAY 23 - Celestial 🌌 & Attentive 🧐
Reduce the power gradient.
DAY 24 - Shallow 🤽♂️ & Tired 😩
Adding true benefit vs focusing on features…
DAY 25 - Dangerous ⚠️ & Nostalgic 🥲
Leaders eat last!
DAY 26 - Remove ⏺️ ➡️ 🟠 & Overwhelmed 😫
🟥 A bad system - If one fails ➡️ All fail!
🟩 In a good system - If one fails ➡️ Everyone learns!
DAY 27 - Beast 🐾 & Care free 😌
The problem of size...
- Large entities have a harder time handling the unexpected,
- A small error can have disastrous consequences (like our Godzilla that just wanted to dance...)
DAY 28 - Sparkle ✨ & Annoyed 😠
Sparkles of AGI ✨
DAY 29 - Massive 🐘 & Curious 🤨
Normalize the act of discussing the hard topics in the open!
DAY 30 - Rush 🏃♂️ & Confused 🤔
"Don't confuse movement with progress"
DAY 31 - Fire 🔥& Thankful🥲
The best time to give a compliment is right away :)
Congratulations, you arrived at the end.
If some of those made you laugh, feel free to share them!
What was your favorite? Very curious to know!