Time management, productivity, high-performance—these buzzwords govern the way we view our roles in not only our jobs but society as a whole. But often, notions that center around the idea of “high performance” are just that: performative.

In this conversation with Dr. Christine Seifert, we unpack what productivity really means and the assumption of morality that unpins it. A professor of communication and author of a number of books and articles, Dr. Seifert thinks deeply and often about the mechanics and implications of rhetoric and how we can be deliberate in our engagement with metaphor.