For a long time, work has been portrayed as a necessary duty, a dimension to be managed with discipline rather than experienced with satisfaction. First came performance, then – perhaps – well-being. First the result, then the quality of the experience. But in a world where organizations increasingly compete on their ability to attract, engage, and retain talent, this view reveals all its limitations.

Today, it is no longer simply a matter of working harder or working better. The real question is another: how do we build a healthier, more sustainable and even rewarding relationship with our work? How do we transform daily work from a source of pressure and routine into a context where energy, motivation, and meaning can coexist with results and responsibility?

It is a question that concerns individuals as much as it does organizations. Because the quality of our work depends not only on what we do, but also on how the context in which we perform it is designed, on the meaning we ascribe to our activities, and on the mindset with which we approach complexity, relationships, and goals.

To explore this topic further, we have selected three very different books – an essay on organizational well-being by Bruce Daisley, a reflection on everyday purpose (the famous essay on Ikigai), and a classic of 20th-century literature, Six Memos for the Next Millennium by Italo Calvino – all of which share the same insight: the joy of work, far from being a mere luxury, is an essential component of performance quality and personal growth.

Because, ultimately, doing good work also means being able to find value – and sometimes even pleasure – in the journey itself, not just in the results we achieve.

Bruce Daisley: the joy of work is a design choice

For years, workplace dissatisfaction has been treated as an individual issue. If a person was stressed, demotivated, or close to burnout, the implicit response was almost always the same: they need to learn to manage themselves better. Bruce Daisley turns this perspective on its head. In his book The Joy of Work, the former Vice President of Twitter Europe presents a simple yet powerful argument: it's not the people who are at fault; often, it's the way work is designed.

Daisley starts from an observation supported by numerous international studies: a significant portion of workplace distress does not stem from the quantity of work itself, but from the quality of the daily work experience. Ineffective meetings, constant interruptions, lack of autonomy, information overload, and a culture of perpetual urgency – these are the elements that drain energy and motivation far more than responsibilities or challenging goals.

His proposal is not idealistic, but deeply pragmatic: rethinking work as a design system. For Daisley, organizational well-being does not depend on superficial benefits or cosmetic initiatives, but rather on the ability to create environments where people can work with greater focus, autonomy, and quality relationships.

Among the factors he identifies as decisive, certain recurring elements stand out: the possibility of having spaces for deep work without constant interruptions; the presence of authentic and informal relationships among colleagues; the perception of progress and improvement; and a sufficient level of autonomy to make people feel responsible for their own contributions. In other words, professional satisfaction stems less from external incentives and more from how each day is actually experienced.

The underlying message is clear: the joy of work is neither a secondary benefit nor a matter of personality. The quality of the work experience is strongly influenced by how an organization structures its culture, processes, and relationships. And in a market where engagement and retention are increasingly central, designing a good workplace experience is no longer just an ethical choice: it is a strategic lever.

Ikigai: when meaning is built into the everyday

While Bruce Daisley examines the quality of the work experience from the outside – processes, culture, organization – the Ikigai Method shifts the focus to a more personal and inner dimension: the relationship between what we do every day and the meaning we attribute to our actions.

Popularized internationally by authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, the Japanese concept of ikigai can be roughly translated as "reason to get up in the morning". It does not necessarily indicate a grand mission or an extraordinary calling. On the contrary, its deepest meaning concerns the ability to find value, purpose, and satisfaction in what we do consistently, even in seemingly ordinary actions.

This is precisely one of the most interesting aspects of the book: the idea that lasting motivation does not only arise solely from achieving grand goals, but from the perception that what we do is consistent with who we are, with what we do well, and with the contribution we can offer to others. From this perspective, work stops being just a sequence of tasks and becomes a space in which to express skills, identity, and purpose.

The authors also link this vision to the lifestyles observed in certain Japanese communities known for their longevity and widespread well-being, where a sense of daily purpose is considered one of the elements that help maintain energy, vitality, and engagement throughout one's entire life. Beyond the simplifications often circulating online on the topic, the most concrete value of Ikigai lies precisely here: in reminding us that meaning is not something found once and for all, but something built progressively through the alignment of talent, pleasure, and contribution.

In an age when many professionals seek a combination of stability, identity, and fulfilment in their work, this approach offers a reflection that is as simple as it is powerful: we cannot always choose every aspect of our work, but we can learn to recognize – and cultivate – what makes it meaningful to us.

Calvino: the virtues of a job well done

At first glance, placing Six Memos for the Next Millennium alongside two contemporary essays on work might seem an unexpected choice. Yet Italo Calvino's final work – a collection of the famous lectures prepared for Harvard and published posthumously in 1988 – offers one of the most surprising reflections on qualities that are still central to the professional and organizational world today.

Calvino does not speak of management, leadership, or corporate culture. Yet his "proposals for the next millennium" seem to describe with extraordinary clarity many of the skills required today of those working in complex contexts: clear thinking, conciseness, precision, and the ability to navigate complexity without being overwhelmed by it.

Among the values he identifies, lightness occupies a central place. He does not conceive of it as superficiality, but as the ability to strip away the superfluous, eliminate what weighs down thought, and simplify without impoverishing. It is a quality that resonates strongly even in contemporary organizations, called upon every day to reduce bureaucracy, streamline processes, and make internal communication clearer.

Alongside lightness, Calvino celebrates quickness, understood as the ability to think and act with agility, economy and precision. In a world where speed is often confused with constant urgency, his emphasis suggests a valuable distinction: being quick does not mean indiscriminately speeding everything up, but knowing how to find the most effective way to turn thought into action.

Finally, exactitude: the value of linguistic precision, of care, of rigor in defining what one wishes to say or construct. A principle that, when applied to daily work, underscores the importance of designing well, communicating clearly, and distinguishing complexity from confusion.

Re-read today, Six Memos for the Next Millennium conveys a powerful idea: the quality of work depends not only on technical skills or organizational processes, but also on the mindset with which we approach realities, problems, and relationships. Working well, after all, also means thinking well. And perhaps even learning – as Calvino suggested – to make the weight of the world a little lighter while continuing to take it seriously.

Enjoying the way

When placed side by side, these three books demonstrate how the quality of our work depends on the context in which we operate and the meaning we give to what we do. Indeed, it depends on the way in which we choose to think and address complexity.

Professional satisfaction ultimately arises as the result of a balance between organization, intention, and mindset. Working well – this is the message today – does not just mean achieving results, but creating conditions in which the journey itself has value.