Have you heard of “Good Corporate Citizens”?

These are the employees whose calendars fill up incredibly quickly. Six online meetings a day are not uncommon—and before you know it, you’re sitting in back-to-back sessions wondering who invited you and, more importantly, why.

I now call these virtual gatherings “goldfish meetings”. On average, around six people attend such a meeting. Two or three of them actually have something to contribute, while the other three to four usually sit passively behind their screens, say little to nothing, and simply look good against their self-selected backgrounds—like goldfish in an aquarium.

During these meetings, your inbox keeps filling up in the background. New emails are constantly coming in that urgently need to be answered. So you try, while sitting in a goldfish meeting, to diligently keep up with the flood of emails, WhatsApp messages, and texts.

On top of that, new projects are constantly being launched across the organization. It doesn’t take long before there are dozens of corporate initiatives. Each one may make sense on its own—but in the context of all existing projects and for a given department, they are often useless or even counterproductive. It might be the reorganization of a reorganization, the introduction of a third IT platform within two years, or yet another cost-cutting program. I call these “BS projects”—everyone knows they’re essentially nonsense, but no one dares to say NO.

Those who work like this are loyal, reliable, and conscientious. In many cases, that’s helpful—and certainly better than toxic or passive behavior. But the danger is that we fall into an illusion. It’s not enough to simply process what comes in. We need people who think beyond, who boldly explore new paths, and who are willing to take big risks in the interest of the organization.

Our economy doesn’t need “good citizens,” but employees who have the courage, in a goldfish meeting, to say:

“I think I’ve been invited by mistake. I don’t have time to be a goldfish. Don’t be offended—but you know I’m working on the big thing for us.”

Or who, when necessary, stand up and tell top management: “This project is BS—it will overload our organization!”

We also don’t need inbox managers who define themselves by replying to every email—we need real doers! To encourage this kind of behavior, the incentives have to be set correctly.

It should not be those who obediently work through everything who are promoted and rewarded, but those who dare to take on big challenges, take responsibility, and are willing to risk failure. Those who are ready to go the extra mile, who see mistakes not as a threat but as an opportunity for growth, and who actively shape the future of their organizations!

This post was published by Wolfgang Jenewein on LinkedIn on November 23, 2025. Zum Original-Beitrag