The Silent Surrender at Work

By John Christensen, Creator of FISH!

First came “quiet quitting.” Then came “quiet firing.” Now, the buzzword is “quiet cracking.”

Let’s be clear: this one is worse.

Quiet quitting meant people were drawing boundaries.
Quiet firing meant managers were pushing people out.
But quiet cracking? That’s people giving up inside.

It’s the slow collapse of hope at work. Folks keep showing up, keep doing the tasks, but something essential has snapped. They’ve stopped believing their effort matters. They’ve stopped believing they can grow. They’ve stopped believing the system will reward their contribution.

They’re still in the chair—but they’re no longer in the fight.

Why Quiet Cracking Is Different

• It’s invisible. On the surface, employees look fine. But inside, they’ve already disengaged.

• It’s contagious. A teammate who’s cracked spreads that disillusionment like smoke in a room.

• It’s final. Once a person truly gives up, it’s nearly impossible to pull them back without deep change.

People don’t crack because they’re weak. They crack because they’ve been strong for too long without recognition, growth, or relief.

What It Says About Work

If quiet cracking is spreading, it’s not an employee problem. It’s an organizational one. It’s proof that the system itself is grinding people down.

Think about it:

• Decades of “do more with less.”

• Leaders confusing control with clarity.

• The myth that paychecks alone are enough to sustain the human spirit.

Quiet cracking is the receipt. It shows us the bill for years of ignoring the emotional economy of work.

What You Can Do

Stop pretending people are endlessly resilient.
Stop relying on fear of layoffs to keep people in line.
Stop treating well-being as an HR initiative instead of a leadership responsibility.

If someone on your team is cracking, it’s not their failure. It’s much bigger than that.

Leaders: ask yourself—are you creating conditions for belief, growth, and meaning? Or are you presiding over a slow collapse?

Take Action: The Cure Is Culture

This is exactly why we built FISH!.

Quiet cracking thrives in workplaces where people feel invisible, joyless, and powerless. FISH! dismantles that by giving leaders and teams a clear, practical framework:

• Be There – presence heals isolation.

• Choose Your Attitude – choice restores agency.

• Make Their Day – recognition rebuilds belief.

• Play – joy returns energy and resilience.

These are not soft skills. They are survival skills. They are the antidote to quiet cracking.

Leaders who practice FISH! don’t just prevent disengagement—they reignite belief. They create workplaces where people don’t crack under pressure but stand tall together.

Quiet cracking may be today’s headline. But culture—real culture—decides tomorrow’s story.

Chin up. We can turn the tide of your culture back to a better place.

John