At the company I work for, its "appear to publish or we'll say you suck at life even if you find the cure for cancer".
Seriously.
Its on our yearly review forms, listed as "Being The Best". It says:
You are striving to achieve the status of a world-class, industry-recognized thought leader. You are regularly reading, attending and speaking at events, publishing original ideas, and are personally networked with the best in the world in these areas
I'm so not making this shit up. Stuntbutt can tell you, as he used to slave in the same salt mines I now inhabit.
Its not that I have a problem with trying to rock out loud in the world of web design...its that I don't think the same ruler that is used to measure how good you are in the field of marketing or sales can also be applied to web design. Worse yet, its all style over substance....you have to KNOW industry leaders...sure, they could all believe you to be an asshat of the highest caliber, but as long as you can say you KNOW them? Well, then you're a WINNER.
Ugh...
So to that end, I've taken down my old website, which used to be a repository for whatever freakish, inane and horribly useless to the world at large (but interesting to me) things I could find...and I've turned it into a damn blog about design. It used to be a site about me having fun away from work...but now, if I expect to get a raise, my fun has to be about work.
Kill me now.
I dont miss it, not at all. Its fine to expect your employees to be superlative, but they go so far with it, its really honestly laughable.