The Future of Work: The Four Pillars of a Winning Culture

Posted on by Scott White

We all hopped on the Zoom celebration as a team. All in different locations. All were wearing our newly minted company swag. Hats, shirts, even some confetti and “We’re #1” foam fingers. 

I watched as the names were read off. “At #52, this company offers foosball, beer kegs, and lattes,” the emcee proudly announced. I breathed a sigh of relief. Not us, at least we weren’t last.

It was not clear to me when we submitted our entry in the fall of 2019 and how many participants there would be or how we would rank. I knew our culture was special, but assumed that everyone else thought the same about their own company, too. So, when we were notified in early 2020 that we had been selected as a finalist, I was excited. Really excited.

To hear there were fifty-two “finalists” gave me pause. The emcee started at the top and counted down. 

When he named us as the fourth “Best Place to Work in Indiana,” I was thrilled. As a start-up, merely four years old, it was an honor to be counted among the very best places to work. So, what set us apart? How did we become one of the best places to work? It’s called Culture, a word that is used increasingly to define the work environment. Let me share the four pillars for a winning workplace culture, based on our experience.

Pillar 1: Created By the Team, Not For Them

We set out to broadly define who we are as a company, and what we stand for. Leadership comes from the top, but the creation of a company culture must come from all. Mandating a culture and expecting buy-in is a recipe for disaster. I worked at a previous company where the founder determined the culture, talked about its importance, wrote it on the walls, and never got buy-in from his teams. At Invesque, we created the culture collectively, and we stand by it every day, valuing the input from every individual.

Pillar 2: Clearly Articulate — No One Should be Left Guessing

It starts with key words, or what I call anchors. What do anchor’s do? They keep the ship in place and avoid drifting. 

These anchors are words that describe critical elements of the culture. For us, these anchors are Teamwork, Family, Excellence, Positive Energy, and Fun. But words just create a framework. Culture is defined by examples and stories. Any thriving culture should be easy to explain and describe. When everyone has bought into the elements of culture, it should become second nature to explain. It’s like when you ask someone to talk about their best friends. I would never expect to hear an answer like, “I’m not sure, it’s hard to define who my best friends are.”

Pillar 3: Core To Your Business, Not an Afterthought 

We lead with who we are, as defined by our culture. For example, in every company meeting, I remind the team how important each person is to its overall success. I highlight the specific contributions of many. I focus on our teamwork and usually weave in examples of positive energy and fun that I have observed while leading the company. At times, I’ve had to highlight where we haven’t lived up to our cultural convictions and identify opportunities to improve — that illustrates our culture’s best. I also weave these cultural themes in communication with the board, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Because of our cultural standards, everyone we touch knows who we are and what’s important to us.

Pillar 4: Not Just Words, But Behavior 

Culture, at its core, must be defined by how we behave and perform. As we talk about family, for example, we give our employees flexibility to work where they want and when they want. We have an “unlimited vacation” policy. As we think about fun, we keep the mood light, even in difficult times. We frame the dialogue in a way that finds a way to have fun. This was highlighted when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. As a team, we created events and activities to perpetuate the fun part of our culture. One person started a weekly Zoom exercise class for the company. Someone else started a monthly book club. Another person set up a Zoom wine tasting. And yet another spearheaded a company newsletter showcasing what people did with their families, pets, and leisure time. What was most interesting about culture during this time is that each of these initiatives came from someone different in the organization. The result? We rose to #4 in four years! 

We did it by building the culture from the ground up and building on a solid foundation. A positive culture is a powerful tool for the long-term success of any organization. Building it for the long-haul and using it to navigate challenging times is what makes it powerful. It’s what defines the best companies and attracts and retains the best talent. As we look to the future of work, culture will increasingly be a defining characteristic that distinguishes the best of the best.

The Future of Work: The Four Pillars of a Winning Culture

Posted on by Scott White

We all hopped on the Zoom celebration as a team. All in different locations. All were wearing our newly minted company swag. Hats, shirts, even some confetti and “We’re #1” foam fingers. 

I watched as the names were read off. “At #52, this company offers foosball, beer kegs, and lattes,” the emcee proudly announced. I breathed a sigh of relief. Not us, at least we weren’t last.

It was not clear to me when we submitted our entry in the fall of 2019 and how many participants there would be or how we would rank. I knew our culture was special, but assumed that everyone else thought the same about their own company, too. So, when we were notified in early 2020 that we had been selected as a finalist, I was excited. Really excited.

To hear there were fifty-two “finalists” gave me pause. The emcee started at the top and counted down. 

When he named us as the fourth “Best Place to Work in Indiana,” I was thrilled. As a start-up, merely four years old, it was an honor to be counted among the very best places to work. So, what set us apart? How did we become one of the best places to work? It’s called Culture, a word that is used increasingly to define the work environment. Let me share the four pillars for a winning workplace culture, based on our experience.

Pillar 1: Created By the Team, Not For Them

We set out to broadly define who we are as a company, and what we stand for. Leadership comes from the top, but the creation of a company culture must come from all. Mandating a culture and expecting buy-in is a recipe for disaster. I worked at a previous company where the founder determined the culture, talked about its importance, wrote it on the walls, and never got buy-in from his teams. At Invesque, we created the culture collectively, and we stand by it every day, valuing the input from every individual.

Pillar 2: Clearly Articulate — No One Should be Left Guessing

It starts with key words, or what I call anchors. What do anchor’s do? They keep the ship in place and avoid drifting. 

These anchors are words that describe critical elements of the culture. For us, these anchors are Teamwork, Family, Excellence, Positive Energy, and Fun. But words just create a framework. Culture is defined by examples and stories. Any thriving culture should be easy to explain and describe. When everyone has bought into the elements of culture, it should become second nature to explain. It’s like when you ask someone to talk about their best friends. I would never expect to hear an answer like, “I’m not sure, it’s hard to define who my best friends are.”

Pillar 3: Core To Your Business, Not an Afterthought 

We lead with who we are, as defined by our culture. For example, in every company meeting, I remind the team how important each person is to its overall success. I highlight the specific contributions of many. I focus on our teamwork and usually weave in examples of positive energy and fun that I have observed while leading the company. At times, I’ve had to highlight where we haven’t lived up to our cultural convictions and identify opportunities to improve — that illustrates our culture’s best. I also weave these cultural themes in communication with the board, shareholders, and other stakeholders. Because of our cultural standards, everyone we touch knows who we are and what’s important to us.

Pillar 4: Not Just Words, But Behavior 

Culture, at its core, must be defined by how we behave and perform. As we talk about family, for example, we give our employees flexibility to work where they want and when they want. We have an “unlimited vacation” policy. As we think about fun, we keep the mood light, even in difficult times. We frame the dialogue in a way that finds a way to have fun. This was highlighted when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. As a team, we created events and activities to perpetuate the fun part of our culture. One person started a weekly Zoom exercise class for the company. Someone else started a monthly book club. Another person set up a Zoom wine tasting. And yet another spearheaded a company newsletter showcasing what people did with their families, pets, and leisure time. What was most interesting about culture during this time is that each of these initiatives came from someone different in the organization. The result? We rose to #4 in four years! 

We did it by building the culture from the ground up and building on a solid foundation. A positive culture is a powerful tool for the long-term success of any organization. Building it for the long-haul and using it to navigate challenging times is what makes it powerful. It’s what defines the best companies and attracts and retains the best talent. As we look to the future of work, culture will increasingly be a defining characteristic that distinguishes the best of the best.

Normalcy Bias Lessons From Boeing, and How to Prevent a Disaster

Posted on by Lethia Owens

When Boeing grounding its 737 Max airplane in 2019, following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, they lost $5 billion in direct revenue by the summer of that year. The overall loss – ranging from damage to the brand to lost customers – was valued by investors at over $25 billion. In late 2019, new revelations about problems with the 737 Max further increased Boeing’s losses. In late December, Boeing fired its CEO Dennis Muilenburg due to the 737 Max fiasco.

What led to this disaster for Boeing? On the surface, it came from Boeing’s efforts to compete effectively with Airbus’s newer and more fuel-efficient airplane, Airbus 320. To do so, Boeing rushed the 737 Max into production and misled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get rapid approval for the 737 Max. In the process, Boeing failed to install safety systems that its engineers pushed for and did not address known software bugs in the 737 Max, glitches that resulted in the eventual crashes.

The New Normal

However, these surface-level issues had a deeper cause. Ironically, the airline industry’s transformation in recent decades to make airplanes much safer and accidents incredibly rare is key to understanding Boeing’s disaster.

Boeing’s leadership suffered from what cognitive neuroscientists and behavioral economists know as the normalcy bias. This dangerous judgment error causes our brains to assume things will keep going as they have been – normally. As a result, we drastically underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster occurring and the impact if it does.

Boeing’s 737 Max disaster is a classic case of the normalcy bias. The Boeing leadership felt utter confidence in the safety record of the airplanes it produced in the last couple of decades, deservedly so, according to statistics on crashes. It would be impossible to imagine that the 737 Max would be less safe than these other recent-model airplanes from their perspective. They saw the typical FAA certification process as simply another bureaucratic hassle that got in the way of doing business and competing with Airbus instead of ensuring safety. 

Think it’s only big companies? Think again.

The normalcy bias is a big reason for bubbles: in stocks, housing prices, loans, and other areas. It’s as though we’re incapable of remembering the previous bubble, even if it occurred only a few years ago.

Normalcy Bias in a Tech Start-Up

Of course, the normalcy bias hits mid-size and small companies hard as well.

At one of my frequent trainings for small and mid-size company executives, Brodie, a tech entrepreneur, shared the story of a startup he founded with a good friend. They complemented each other well: Brodie had strong technical skills, and his friend brought strong marketing and selling capacity. 

Things went great for the first two and a half years, with a growing client list – until his friend got into a bad motorcycle accident that left him unable to talk. Brodie had to deal not only with the emotional trauma but also with covering his co-founder’s work roles. 

Unfortunately, his co-founder failed to keep good notes. He also did not introduce Brodie to his contacts at the client companies. In turn, Brodie – a strong introvert – struggled with selling. Eventually, the startup burned through its cash and had to close its doors. 

The normalcy bias is one of many dangerous judgment errors, mental blind spots resulting from how our brains are wired. Researchers in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics call them cognitive biases.

Fortunately, recent research in these fields shows how you can use pragmatic strategies to address these dangerous judgment errors in your professional life, relationships, or other life areas. 

You need to evaluate where cognitive biases are hurting you and others in your team and organization. Then, you can use structured decision-making methods to make “good enough” daily decisions quickly, more thorough ones for moderately important choices, and in-depth ones for truly major decisions.

Such techniques will also help you implement your decisions well and formulate truly effective long-term strategic plans. In addition, you can develop mental habits and skills to notice cognitive biases and prevent yourself from slipping into them.

Preventing Normalcy Bias Disasters

In particular, with the normalcy bias, it helps to use the strategy of considering and addressing potential alternative futures that are much more negative than you intuitively feel are likely. That’s the strategy that Brodie and I explored in my coaching with him after the training session, as he felt ready to get back to the startup world.

While Brodie knew he wouldn’t be up to starting a new business himself, he also wanted to avoid the previous problems. So we discussed how he would, from the start, push for creating systems and processes that would enable each co-founder to back up the other in cases of emergencies. Moreover, the co-founders would commit to sharing important contacts from their side of the business with each other, so that relationships could be maintained if the other person was out of commission for a while. 

So what are the broader principles here? 

1) Be much more pessimistic about the possibility and impact of disasters than you intuitively feel or can easily imagine — to overcome the normalcy bias’s challenges. 

2) Use effective strategic planning techniques to scan for potential disasters and address them in advance, as Brodie did with his new business plans. 

3) Of course, you can’t predict everything, so retain some extra capacity in your system – of time, money, and other resources – that you can use to deal with unknown unknowns, also called black swans. 

4) Finally, if you see a hint of a disaster, react much more quickly than you intuitively feel you should — to overcome the gut reaction’s dismissal of the likelihood and impact of disasters.

Normalcy Bias Lessons From Boeing, and How to Prevent a Disaster

Posted on by Dr Gleb Tsipursky

When Boeing grounding its 737 Max airplane in 2019, following two deadly crashes that killed 346 people, they lost $5 billion in direct revenue by the summer of that year. The overall loss – ranging from damage to the brand to lost customers – was valued by investors at over $25 billion. In late 2019, new revelations about problems with the 737 Max further increased Boeing’s losses. In late December, Boeing fired its CEO Dennis Muilenburg due to the 737 Max fiasco.

What led to this disaster for Boeing? On the surface, it came from Boeing’s efforts to compete effectively with Airbus’s newer and more fuel-efficient airplane, Airbus 320. To do so, Boeing rushed the 737 Max into production and misled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to get rapid approval for the 737 Max. In the process, Boeing failed to install safety systems that its engineers pushed for and did not address known software bugs in the 737 Max, glitches that resulted in the eventual crashes.

The New Normal

However, these surface-level issues had a deeper cause. Ironically, the airline industry’s transformation in recent decades to make airplanes much safer and accidents incredibly rare is key to understanding Boeing’s disaster.

Boeing’s leadership suffered from what cognitive neuroscientists and behavioral economists know as the normalcy bias. This dangerous judgment error causes our brains to assume things will keep going as they have been – normally. As a result, we drastically underestimate both the likelihood of a disaster occurring and the impact if it does.

Boeing’s 737 Max disaster is a classic case of the normalcy bias. The Boeing leadership felt utter confidence in the safety record of the airplanes it produced in the last couple of decades, deservedly so, according to statistics on crashes. It would be impossible to imagine that the 737 Max would be less safe than these other recent-model airplanes from their perspective. They saw the typical FAA certification process as simply another bureaucratic hassle that got in the way of doing business and competing with Airbus instead of ensuring safety. 

Think it’s only big companies? Think again.

The normalcy bias is a big reason for bubbles: in stocks, housing prices, loans, and other areas. It’s as though we’re incapable of remembering the previous bubble, even if it occurred only a few years ago.

Normalcy Bias in a Tech Start-Up

Of course, the normalcy bias hits mid-size and small companies hard as well.

At one of my frequent trainings for small and mid-size company executives, Brodie, a tech entrepreneur, shared the story of a startup he founded with a good friend. They complemented each other well: Brodie had strong technical skills, and his friend brought strong marketing and selling capacity. 

Things went great for the first two and a half years, with a growing client list – until his friend got into a bad motorcycle accident that left him unable to talk. Brodie had to deal not only with the emotional trauma but also with covering his co-founder’s work roles. 

Unfortunately, his co-founder failed to keep good notes. He also did not introduce Brodie to his contacts at the client companies. In turn, Brodie – a strong introvert – struggled with selling. Eventually, the startup burned through its cash and had to close its doors. 

The normalcy bias is one of many dangerous judgment errors, mental blind spots resulting from how our brains are wired. Researchers in cognitive neuroscience and behavioral economics call them cognitive biases.

Fortunately, recent research in these fields shows how you can use pragmatic strategies to address these dangerous judgment errors in your professional life, relationships, or other life areas. 

You need to evaluate where cognitive biases are hurting you and others in your team and organization. Then, you can use structured decision-making methods to make “good enough” daily decisions quickly, more thorough ones for moderately important choices, and in-depth ones for truly major decisions.

Such techniques will also help you implement your decisions well and formulate truly effective long-term strategic plans. In addition, you can develop mental habits and skills to notice cognitive biases and prevent yourself from slipping into them.

Preventing Normalcy Bias Disasters

In particular, with the normalcy bias, it helps to use the strategy of considering and addressing potential alternative futures that are much more negative than you intuitively feel are likely. That’s the strategy that Brodie and I explored in my coaching with him after the training session, as he felt ready to get back to the startup world.

While Brodie knew he wouldn’t be up to starting a new business himself, he also wanted to avoid the previous problems. So we discussed how he would, from the start, push for creating systems and processes that would enable each co-founder to back up the other in cases of emergencies. Moreover, the co-founders would commit to sharing important contacts from their side of the business with each other, so that relationships could be maintained if the other person was out of commission for a while. 

So what are the broader principles here? 

1) Be much more pessimistic about the possibility and impact of disasters than you intuitively feel or can easily imagine — to overcome the normalcy bias’s challenges. 

2) Use effective strategic planning techniques to scan for potential disasters and address them in advance, as Brodie did with his new business plans. 

3) Of course, you can’t predict everything, so retain some extra capacity in your system – of time, money, and other resources – that you can use to deal with unknown unknowns, also called black swans. 

4) Finally, if you see a hint of a disaster, react much more quickly than you intuitively feel you should — to overcome the gut reaction’s dismissal of the likelihood and impact of disasters.

4 Ways to Think About the Future in a Post-Pandemic World

Posted on by Wes Dove

For more than a century, think tanks have played an important role in society, serving as sources of expertise for policymakers, places to explore new ideas, and critical catalysts for bringing creative solutions to action.

But as the coronavirus pandemic ripples through society, trust in institutions weakens, and the country’s demographics shift, the traditional think tank model is being stress-tested. “The COVID-19 crisis presents significant challenges to a sector already struggling with funding shortages, credibility, and relevance,” notes On Think Tanks.

Joe Waters thinks an alternative to these Washington, D.C.-based institutions can bring a fresh perspective and new voices to society’s critical issues locally and globally. In 2018, Waters co-founded the nonprofit ideas lab Capita to build a better think tank focused on the cultural and social transformations affecting young children, and to foster new ideas to ensure a future where children and their families flourish.

From his perch in a small town in the Blue Ridge mountains, Waters works from what Pope Francis calls “the peripheries.” By looking from the edge rather than from the center, “we bring a different perspective to the issues,” says Waters. It’s a perspective that enables Capita to combine unusual concepts and convene unlikely collaborators to generate new models, frameworks, and ideas.

Here are four ways Capita is building the think tank of the future for a post-pandemic world:

Think Outside the Beltway

Waters, based in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, is far enough from Washington, DC, to be independent of the “group think” that often permeates the nation’s capital. That’s a critical perspective to have as Waters and his team develop new ways to envision a better future for children and families.

“The Trump victory in 2016 surprised a lot of the political class, and that is because there is such a wide gulf between D.C. and the average American citizen,” says Waters. “It’s critical and positive to have think tanks outside of the bubble.”

Digital-first

The pandemic is forcing more organizations to decentralize operations, reduce face-to-face networking, and embrace technology. For Capita, being digitally native was a founding principle. Waters recognized that the form and function of the think tank work had to adapt to a new 21st Century landscape. The pandemic only reinforces this imperative.

“Digital first means using technology to make research and content accessible to all voices, crowdsourcing ideas and democratizing the intellectual property an organization generates, Waters says. “We don’t want policy papers to sit on the shelves. We want them out with our audiences to help us shape future research.”

A ‘Gig Economy’ Think Tank

What are the implications of rapid change for the future of children and young families in the U.S.? For Waters and his team, questions like this informed an approach that is nimble and fluid. Rather than staff up, Capita finds experts and contracts with them.

For example, Elliot Haspel, early childhood and K-12 education policy expert, frequently teams up with Capita on research and policy development. Capita also partners with larger institutions, including the Bank Street College of Education and Knowledgeworks, to provide insights into how today’s trends will impact young people and their families in the future and explores how emerging issues might alter childhood experience everywhere.

“Our approach applies the model of the sharing economy to think tanks,” says Waters. “It’s an efficient approach built around shared networks and resources that makes sense in a pandemic – and beyond.”

Intersectional Problem Solving

Waters believes that “intersectional innovation” – a concept explained in Frans Johansson’s The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures – is critical to understanding how to innovate more powerfully to achieve better outcomes for young children and their families.

Johansson argues that transformative innovations emerge from the intersection of different disciplines and cultures. This intersection is what made the Renaissance in Florence – funded mainly by the Medici family – such a prolific period of innovation. Capita uses a similar model to create opportunities to combine unusual concepts and convene unlikely collaborators to generate new models, frameworks, and ideas.

Together, these four principles keep Capita tightly focused on its north star – the significant trends impacting young children. “We live in an age of acceleration, liquidity, and fragmentation,” Waters says. “Our interest is not simply how children and families can flourish today but figuring out ways to help the children who won’t be born for another decade and beyond flourish.”

4 Ways to Think About the Future in a Post-Pandemic World

Posted on by Morrison Shafroth

For more than a century, think tanks have played an important role in society, serving as sources of expertise for policymakers, places to explore new ideas, and critical catalysts for bringing creative solutions to action.

But as the coronavirus pandemic ripples through society, trust in institutions weakens, and the country’s demographics shift, the traditional think tank model is being stress-tested. “The COVID-19 crisis presents significant challenges to a sector already struggling with funding shortages, credibility, and relevance,” notes On Think Tanks.

Joe Waters thinks an alternative to these Washington, D.C.-based institutions can bring a fresh perspective and new voices to society’s critical issues locally and globally. In 2018, Waters co-founded the nonprofit ideas lab Capita to build a better think tank focused on the cultural and social transformations affecting young children, and to foster new ideas to ensure a future where children and their families flourish.

From his perch in a small town in the Blue Ridge mountains, Waters works from what Pope Francis calls “the peripheries.” By looking from the edge rather than from the center, “we bring a different perspective to the issues,” says Waters. It’s a perspective that enables Capita to combine unusual concepts and convene unlikely collaborators to generate new models, frameworks, and ideas.

Here are four ways Capita is building the think tank of the future for a post-pandemic world:

Think Outside the Beltway

Waters, based in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, is far enough from Washington, DC, to be independent of the “group think” that often permeates the nation’s capital. That’s a critical perspective to have as Waters and his team develop new ways to envision a better future for children and families.

“The Trump victory in 2016 surprised a lot of the political class, and that is because there is such a wide gulf between D.C. and the average American citizen,” says Waters. “It’s critical and positive to have think tanks outside of the bubble.”

Digital-first

The pandemic is forcing more organizations to decentralize operations, reduce face-to-face networking, and embrace technology. For Capita, being digitally native was a founding principle. Waters recognized that the form and function of the think tank work had to adapt to a new 21st Century landscape. The pandemic only reinforces this imperative.

“Digital first means using technology to make research and content accessible to all voices, crowdsourcing ideas and democratizing the intellectual property an organization generates, Waters says. “We don’t want policy papers to sit on the shelves. We want them out with our audiences to help us shape future research.”

A ‘Gig Economy’ Think Tank

What are the implications of rapid change for the future of children and young families in the U.S.? For Waters and his team, questions like this informed an approach that is nimble and fluid. Rather than staff up, Capita finds experts and contracts with them.

For example, Elliot Haspel, early childhood and K-12 education policy expert, frequently teams up with Capita on research and policy development. Capita also partners with larger institutions, including the Bank Street College of Education and Knowledgeworks, to provide insights into how today’s trends will impact young people and their families in the future and explores how emerging issues might alter childhood experience everywhere.

“Our approach applies the model of the sharing economy to think tanks,” says Waters. “It’s an efficient approach built around shared networks and resources that makes sense in a pandemic – and beyond.”

Intersectional Problem Solving

Waters believes that “intersectional innovation” – a concept explained in Frans Johansson’s The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures – is critical to understanding how to innovate more powerfully to achieve better outcomes for young children and their families.

Johansson argues that transformative innovations emerge from the intersection of different disciplines and cultures. This intersection is what made the Renaissance in Florence – funded mainly by the Medici family – such a prolific period of innovation. Capita uses a similar model to create opportunities to combine unusual concepts and convene unlikely collaborators to generate new models, frameworks, and ideas.

Together, these four principles keep Capita tightly focused on its north star – the significant trends impacting young children. “We live in an age of acceleration, liquidity, and fragmentation,” Waters says. “Our interest is not simply how children and families can flourish today but figuring out ways to help the children who won’t be born for another decade and beyond flourish.”

The Great Work Reset: 4 Things to Know

Posted on by Real Leaders

PODCAST PEOPLE: A SUMMARY FROM THE REAL LEADERS PODCAST

“We’re going through the largest capital experiment in the history of the world right now. And we’re guessing how we’re going to restart our economies.”

Gary A. Bolles is an internationally recognized expert on the future of work and the future of of learning, aimed at finding solutions on every scale, for individuals, organizations, communities, and countries.

The following is a summary of Episode 76 of the Real Leaders Podcast, a conversation with internationally recognized speaker, Gary A. Bolles. Read or listen to the full conversation below.

The Future of Work

Gary explains that the workforce is moving beyond the old model that divided life into three phases (education, work, and retirement). Even before the changes brought about by the pandemic, career trajectories have been shifting towards the Japanese model, Ikigai (reason for being) which suggests that the secret to a long and happy life is to pursue four things. Gary lists these as the four domains of the Great Reset and the future of work:

  1. Something you can make money at
  2. Something you’re good at
  3. Something that you love doing
  4. Something that the world needs

He emphasizes that young people today are reversing this trend:

“They’re asking first, what does the world need? If I can focus on that I’m going to love doing it, if I love doing it I’m going to get better at it, and if I get better at it, I’ll get paid better for it.”

https://open.spotify.com/episode/436fhCpjQ1zZtnTsgmhhn7?si=hOeQaQ2vSKGxr5ndf2eViQ
Listen to Episode 76 on Spotify, Anchor, Crowdcast, and Apple Podcasts

Inclusive Capitalism

Gary explains that our current economic system can’t offer equal opportunity because it rewards capital over labor, which prevents people at the bottom of the ladder from climbing higher, let alone reaching the top. Consequently, adapting this system into an inclusive model will require modifying the system to increase accessibility to opportunity, and upgrading human potential to help people continually develop the skills that can solve the problems of tomorrow. This will require transforming education systems, companies making much bigger investments in training, and personal commitments to lifelong learning.

“There’s no question that we need to double down on Capitalism, but it has to be inclusive capitalism. It has to be where we’re helping people to be able to find or create meaningful, well-paid work and then they get compensated fairly for it.”

The Great Reset will address four levels of society: individuals, organizations, communities, and countries, each with its own problem statement.

“Individuals just want to be able to find or create meaningful, well-paid work today and tomorrow. That’s all people want. Organizations keep telling me that they need talented workers that can help them solve the problems of today and tomorrow. Communities want to be ecosystems where everybody can thrive. And countries want to build inclusive economies. This is what we’re all designing for. Now where do you fit?”

Transcript

Read the full conversation here: Gary-A-Bolles_TranscriptDownload

Connect

Find more of Gary’s insights here:

The Great Work Reset: 4 Things to Know

Posted on by Real Leaders

PODCAST PEOPLE: A SUMMARY FROM THE REAL LEADERS PODCAST

“We’re going through the largest capital experiment in the history of the world right now. And we’re guessing how we’re going to restart our economies.”

Gary A. Bolles is an internationally recognized expert on the future of work and the future of of learning, aimed at finding solutions on every scale, for individuals, organizations, communities, and countries.

The following is a summary of Episode 76 of the Real Leaders Podcast, a conversation with internationally recognized speaker, Gary A. Bolles. Read or listen to the full conversation below.

The Future of Work

Gary explains that the workforce is moving beyond the old model that divided life into three phases (education, work, and retirement). Even before the changes brought about by the pandemic, career trajectories have been shifting towards the Japanese model, Ikigai (reason for being) which suggests that the secret to a long and happy life is to pursue four things. Gary lists these as the four domains of the Great Reset and the future of work:

  1. Something you can make money at
  2. Something you’re good at
  3. Something that you love doing
  4. Something that the world needs

He emphasizes that young people today are reversing this trend:

“They’re asking first, what does the world need? If I can focus on that I’m going to love doing it, if I love doing it I’m going to get better at it, and if I get better at it, I’ll get paid better for it.”

Listen to Episode 76 on Spotify, Anchor, Crowdcast, and Apple Podcasts

Inclusive Capitalism

Gary explains that our current economic system can’t offer equal opportunity because it rewards capital over labor, which prevents people at the bottom of the ladder from climbing higher, let alone reaching the top. Consequently, adapting this system into an inclusive model will require modifying the system to increase accessibility to opportunity, and upgrading human potential to help people continually develop the skills that can solve the problems of tomorrow. This will require transforming education systems, companies making much bigger investments in training, and personal commitments to lifelong learning.

“There’s no question that we need to double down on Capitalism, but it has to be inclusive capitalism. It has to be where we’re helping people to be able to find or create meaningful, well-paid work and then they get compensated fairly for it.”

The Great Reset will address four levels of society: individuals, organizations, communities, and countries, each with its own problem statement.

“Individuals just want to be able to find or create meaningful, well-paid work today and tomorrow. That’s all people want. Organizations keep telling me that they need talented workers that can help them solve the problems of today and tomorrow. Communities want to be ecosystems where everybody can thrive. And countries want to build inclusive economies. This is what we’re all designing for. Now where do you fit?”

Transcript

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It’s Time for a Reset — We Need to Change the Game of Business

Posted on by Jack Stack

Millions of Americans are out of work as a result of the pandemic. It’s not their fault. A growing number of small business owners have been forced to close their shops through no fault of their own.  

The combination of the virus, the ongoing social outcries, protectionism, and trade wars have rocked our great entrepreneurial nation’s very foundation. These shockwaves aren’t expected to subside anytime soon. The long-term impact of so many unemployed people creates uncertainty everywhere, from our local neighborhoods and downtowns to state and federal agencies. We’re all wondering when businesses can recover and begin hiring again. We all need hope. We need something positive to rally around and look to as we go through these monumental changes. 

Now is our opportunity for a reset — we need to change the game.  

The crisis has given us the chance to rethink how to bridge the gaps in our society that separate the haves from the have-nots. We have a unique excuse to evaluate where we stand. It’s time to rethink the status quo and explore new ideas. Now is the time to have an open and honest conversation about the pivotal role that businesses play in employing people and building wealth. To save the American Dream, which is about opportunities that create a greater quality of life for everyone, we need to teach people the basics of financial and business literacy. 

Opening up business 

We have a vast knowledge gap in our country when it comes to financial literacy. In our corporation, we’ve spent more than 40 years trying to rectify that. Every associate in our corporation is taught how to speak the language of business. We call this open-book leadership system, “The Great Game of Business.” Our end goal has always been to build a business of businesspeople who think and act like owners. They are taught the tools needed to take control of their destinies and are empowered to develop plans that create and protect their jobs and help grow the company.  

The whole idea of transparency and financial literacy teaches people how to succeed even during the worst of times. When we tell people the truth, we build a foundation of trust for the company to stand on going forward in good times and bad. To do that, we’ve tried to eliminate the fear people have that they can’t understand business. By opening the books and embracing transparency, we give our associates the information they need to make the best decisions. But that can only happen when they truly understand the financials that they have a part in creating.  

In closed-book companies, associates often assume that all of the profits go into the owners’ pockets. Meanwhile, owners don’t think their associates understand all of the liabilities or risks they’ve taken on. This leads to a lack of understanding on both sides — and results in resentments and mistrust. These are among the many tensions in business today that could quickly be resolved through transparency and financial education.  

When you teach and share the numbers with everyone in the company, three things happen: you inspire trust and confidence; people engage in creating their vision of the future, and the entire organization unites around shared goals. 

Leaders need to understand the power of trust. It’s amazing how freeing it is to trust in and share information with employees. Everyone sleeps better at night because they know they can arrive at solutions by working together.  

Developing a new language 

Changing the game by teaching people the game of business works. We’ve seen it in thousands of companies worldwide who are creating a better future for themselves and their associates. We understand that taking that step might require a giant leap of faith — and a lot of hard work. Just like we’ve seen the value of adding STEM courses to school curriculums, we need to add financial literacy. And if the academic institutions won’t do it, then businesses must become the teachers. 

Teaching financial literacy requires the same immersive approach that some schools take in teaching students a foreign language. We need to speak it all day, every day until it becomes routine and becomes the language that everyone speaks across the entire company. It crosses departments. It helps us work together and highlights where we make a difference to each other — which is something we need now more than ever.  

Building a better quality of life 

A significant aspect of teaching financial literacy to associates is that education doesn’t stop inside the business. We’ve heard time and time again of people bringing it into their homes and communities. It becomes a formula for building a better life. People have told us things like: “I’ve always had a budget, but I truly didn’t understand it. Seeing how a business is run and how small things can affect so many people shows me how to make a difference.”  

Teaching people the language of business also results in much more than financial success. Informed associates are empowered to make recommendations, fix problems, and have a say in the company’s direction. A transparent system gives them the ability to understand what they need to lead a secure and fulfilling life.  

That’s why we believe business can make a positive difference in the world. It empowers people to pursue their dreams. But to truly change the game, we need everyone working together and playing off the same song sheet. When we open up the business rules to everyone and provide the information on which to act, it empowers everyone to move forward hand in hand to achieve the American Dream. 

It’s Time for a Reset — We Need to Change the Game of Business

Posted on by Jack Stack

Millions of Americans are out of work as a result of the pandemic. It’s not their fault. A growing number of small business owners have been forced to close their shops through no fault of their own.  

The combination of the virus, the ongoing social outcries, protectionism, and trade wars have rocked our great entrepreneurial nation’s very foundation. These shockwaves aren’t expected to subside anytime soon. The long-term impact of so many unemployed people creates uncertainty everywhere, from our local neighborhoods and downtowns to state and federal agencies. We’re all wondering when businesses can recover and begin hiring again. We all need hope. We need something positive to rally around and look to as we go through these monumental changes. 

Now is our opportunity for a reset — we need to change the game.  

The crisis has given us the chance to rethink how to bridge the gaps in our society that separate the haves from the have-nots. We have a unique excuse to evaluate where we stand. It’s time to rethink the status quo and explore new ideas. Now is the time to have an open and honest conversation about the pivotal role that businesses play in employing people and building wealth. To save the American Dream, which is about opportunities that create a greater quality of life for everyone, we need to teach people the basics of financial and business literacy. 

Opening up business 

We have a vast knowledge gap in our country when it comes to financial literacy. In our corporation, we’ve spent more than 40 years trying to rectify that. Every associate in our corporation is taught how to speak the language of business. We call this open-book leadership system, “The Great Game of Business.” Our end goal has always been to build a business of businesspeople who think and act like owners. They are taught the tools needed to take control of their destinies and are empowered to develop plans that create and protect their jobs and help grow the company.  

The whole idea of transparency and financial literacy teaches people how to succeed even during the worst of times. When we tell people the truth, we build a foundation of trust for the company to stand on going forward in good times and bad. To do that, we’ve tried to eliminate the fear people have that they can’t understand business. By opening the books and embracing transparency, we give our associates the information they need to make the best decisions. But that can only happen when they truly understand the financials that they have a part in creating.  

In closed-book companies, associates often assume that all of the profits go into the owners’ pockets. Meanwhile, owners don’t think their associates understand all of the liabilities or risks they’ve taken on. This leads to a lack of understanding on both sides — and results in resentments and mistrust. These are among the many tensions in business today that could quickly be resolved through transparency and financial education.  

When you teach and share the numbers with everyone in the company, three things happen: you inspire trust and confidence; people engage in creating their vision of the future, and the entire organization unites around shared goals. 

Leaders need to understand the power of trust. It’s amazing how freeing it is to trust in and share information with employees. Everyone sleeps better at night because they know they can arrive at solutions by working together.  

Developing a new language 

Changing the game by teaching people the game of business works. We’ve seen it in thousands of companies worldwide who are creating a better future for themselves and their associates. We understand that taking that step might require a giant leap of faith — and a lot of hard work. Just like we’ve seen the value of adding STEM courses to school curriculums, we need to add financial literacy. And if the academic institutions won’t do it, then businesses must become the teachers. 

Teaching financial literacy requires the same immersive approach that some schools take in teaching students a foreign language. We need to speak it all day, every day until it becomes routine and becomes the language that everyone speaks across the entire company. It crosses departments. It helps us work together and highlights where we make a difference to each other — which is something we need now more than ever.  

Building a better quality of life 

A significant aspect of teaching financial literacy to associates is that education doesn’t stop inside the business. We’ve heard time and time again of people bringing it into their homes and communities. It becomes a formula for building a better life. People have told us things like: “I’ve always had a budget, but I truly didn’t understand it. Seeing how a business is run and how small things can affect so many people shows me how to make a difference.”  

Teaching people the language of business also results in much more than financial success. Informed associates are empowered to make recommendations, fix problems, and have a say in the company’s direction. A transparent system gives them the ability to understand what they need to lead a secure and fulfilling life.  

That’s why we believe business can make a positive difference in the world. It empowers people to pursue their dreams. But to truly change the game, we need everyone working together and playing off the same song sheet. When we open up the business rules to everyone and provide the information on which to act, it empowers everyone to move forward hand in hand to achieve the American Dream. 

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