The Good Enough Job summary

Work can be fulfilling but crushing – especially if you don’t have other community structures in place. Just ask social scientist Ryan Burge.

When Ryan got his hands on the General Social Survey's 2018 data, he knew he'd found something big. His area of interest? Trends in organized religion. Specifically, the “nones” – people with no religious affiliation – were increasing. Excited, he spent a day crunching the numbers and came up with an astonishing discovery: for the first time ever, the nones outnumbered Evangelicals and Catholics. 

In 1999, an ambitious high-school sophomore named Megan Greenwell took a bold step into journalism. Joining the student newspaper staff, she dove headfirst into an alarming investigation about modern-day slavery. This experience was her initiation into a successful career that would lead her to top-tier media outlets and make her the first female editor in chief of the popular sports blog Deadspin.

But as Megan’s career trajectory skyrocketed, so did her stress levels. Despite her impressive track record at major publications like GOOD, ESPN, and New York, the journalist found herself grappling with an escalating burnout. Less than a year after accepting the position of interim editor in chief at Wired, the burnout peaked, leading to her decision to step down. 

Have you ever felt so at home with your colleagues that work feels like a second family? That's how it was for Taylor Moore at Kickstarter. 

The startup thrived on its unique culture, prioritizing shared values over profit. Taylor and his colleagues bonded over the company’s mission to champion artists, which they cited as their shared purpose. The office was, above all, a cozy second home. Yet this coziness became a battleground when the company’s actions betrayed its ethos.