
In "The Business Romantic," Tim Leberecht challenges corporate monotony, revealing how passion and enchantment can transform workplaces. What if the secret to professional fulfillment isn't efficiency, but romance? Discover why even tech giants are embracing vulnerability in an age of algorithms.
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Picture a scene that shouldn't work: Cairo's Tahrir Square, 2004, flooded with corporate logos as the Olympic Torch Relay passes through. Coca-Cola banners flap overhead. Samsung ads glitter on every corner. Yet thousands of Egyptians gather not to consume but to celebrate-their faces lit with genuine joy, their voices rising in collective wonder. This contradiction became a revelation: commerce and transcendence aren't enemies. They can dance together. And in that dance lies a philosophy that challenges everything we think we know about business. The modern workplace is suffocating. A 2013 Gallup poll across 140 countries found only 13 percent of employees feel enthusiastic about their jobs. Most sleepwalk through their days. Nearly a quarter actively spread negativity. We work eight weeks longer annually than in 1969 for roughly the same inflation-adjusted income, while the wealthiest 0.1 percent own one-fifth of America's wealth. When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion, it valued each employee at $345 million-a number that feels obscene against the backdrop of ordinary struggle. Yet something is stirring. People increasingly seek meaning through work, spawning B Corps, the Maker Movement, and initiatives like Richard Branson's B Team. But romantics want something different from purpose-driven workers. They value the journey as much as the destination, prioritizing experience over institutional goals. Romance emerges from intensity, uncertainty, conflict-the heightened experience itself.