Work Culture, Business, Leadership, and Communication
Work City Submission Guidelines
Work City Is Now Open for Business
We were made for meaningful work — but years of cultural influence, exploitation, and human greed have distorted our relationship with our careers. Part of being human is discovering work as it ought to be.
Work City is a place to gather around the water cooler and dream about a better world — or complain about your narcissistic boss. We want to hear about the best job you’ve ever had or the toxic company culture that catapulted you into the Great Resignation. We want to learn and grow together and avoid repeating the same disastrous career mistakes.
Let us discover the joy in work and empathize with those devastating vocational moments that keep us up at night, punching our bed pillows and imagining it’s the face of [redacted]. ¹
What we are looking for
Our primary goal is to make the workplace better. To do so, we need to boost our skills and be candid about our failures. My favorite question to ask guests of my podcast is, “Let’s spin the Wheel of Embarrassing moments. Tell a story of professional failure, where you are the person who screwed up, and what you learned from it.”
Ask yourself, “What advice would I give to someone entering my field today?” or “How can I help others avoid the political landmines of an office job?”
Medium has terrific resources and publications dedicated to freelancing and solopreneurship. However, Work City focuses on the stories and skills of interacting with others. ²
We want epic, tragic, helpful, fun stories and tools in work culture, business, leadership, and communication.
YES Examples
- How to Survive an Annual Performance Review Without Crying
- The Worst Job I Ever Had And What I Learned From It
- Project Management For People That Don’t Manage Projects
- Why Supervisors Should Remove the Feedback Sandwich From Their Communication Diet
NO Examples
- 211 Mindfulness Techniques That Make Me a Better Writer
- How to Make Passive Income Doing Yada Yada Yada And Stuff
- The Secret to Self Improvement Is Hiding In Your Apartment and Ignoring Other People
- Manifest Massive Crypto Profits With Essential Healing Oil-Crystals
Submission Guidelines
Work City is accepting new writers and editors.
The basics
- Follow all Medium Rules about ethical behavior, copyrighted material, and staying off the “Human Resources needs to speak with you” list
- Stories should include at least one image that you have the right to use — and credit the source
- Hate speech, conspiracy theories, antisemitism, or other nastiness is not permitted
- Submissions must have words written by a human. No lazy cut-and-paste generative AI sees the light of day
- Proofread your word babies for spelling, punctuation, and grammar before submitting
- Stories should be safe to read at work. Vulgar language is permitted if part of a narrative experience, memoir, or essay. Graphic descriptions of sexual liaisons between coworkers or other erotica are not welcome
The nitty-gritty
- If you are telling a story about a terrible boss or a toxic work environment, please change or omit the name of the supervisor and company — no throwing anyone under the bus, even if they deserve it
- Write from your experience and expertise — if you are six weeks into your first corporate job, you are not an expert on organizational leadership. However, your insights as a new hire entering the workforce are valuable
- Fun, playfulness, and humility are encouraged but not required
- Please avoid LinkedIn Bromance Poetry — We want genuine wisdom, not emoji-laden bullet points from an inauthentic template
- I’m the only editor. Please allow 2–3 business days for me to review and publish your work gems
How to be added as a writer.
- Follow Mark Suroviec, M.Ed., and Work City
- Read at least 145 of my stories, clapping 50 times for all, highlighting like you stole a truckload of office supplies, and commenting about how my lyrical masterworks are angelic creations worthy of replacing the Ten Commandments
- Ignore Step 2
- Leave a comment on this story, “Let’s get to work!”
Conclusion
If you believe that “Life’s too short for work to suck,” then Work City is the place for you. ³
Cheers.
Footnotes
¹ Not hyperbole. During the lowest point of career burnout and frustration, the 2:00 am manager-rage-induced insomnia attacks occurred five nights a week.
² In the example of freelancers, stories about managing clients’ expectations or project red flags would be acceptable.
³ Links to stories in Work City may occasionally be shared on my company website, workplaysolutions.com. Links automatically redirect users to your story on Medium, so you still get paid.
Need a family-friendly escape from work? Check out our sister publication, Playtown.