You’d think after hosting 5 events on the theme of the Future of Work it would get a bit repetitive. Boring perhaps. But it can’t. And it won’t. And here’s why:
The shift in the make up of our workforce and in the way we organise ourselves is rapidly evolving — we are at a monumental juncture.
It’s now possible to create a new model of working that makes going to the office productive, fulfilling and meaningful. Many visionaries have been busy designing, what Frederic Laloux calls — soulful workplaces. And these companies aren’t necessarily places where you go, so much as a communities where you belong. The chief organising principle of the modern era is;
A figurative space where your talent can flourish.
Leading the 5th edition of the Future of Work series at Shoreditch house three leaders attest to these changes. They assert their own views on what is happening to our ways and means of working, its affects on us individually and collectively and what’s in store around the corner.
Elco Ian, growth hacker and founder of Painting the Internet is in love with the sound of things slowing down. He urges you to stop for second and contemplate all of these changes around us:
“..The future of work will be one where your work, your personal life, your relationships, everything around you — the lines will not be so rigid anymore as they used to be, they will be much more blurred and you will have the ability to choose what you prefer and what you don’t prefer— and in times when we can expect massive technological acceleration — we should think very clearly all together what kind of lives we want for ourselves, for each other and for our future.”
David Casali, Product Experience Director at Automattic is living and breathing the distributed workforce model. Working in a thriving and progressive organisation he cites 3 guiding principles that are key to not fucking up the culture:
“Transparency — share everything, share early
Initiative — individual leads, team autonomy
Communication — is oxygen”
Dive deeper into what makes one of the world’s leading distributed companies tick and learn David’s views on the tools and support required to make work, work. View his deck here
Brett Macfarlene, Director at Door Global, represents a growing breed of super talent that blends creativity, business and tech in the right measure to seriously shake things up. Confessing he possess a breadth of knowledge over depth — he claims that it’s this trait, the curiosity gene, that will define the next generation of knowledge workers:
Deep dive into Brett’s thinking looking to the past to see into the future, view his deck here
So you see although these may be varying visions for the future, the underlying shift is self-evident. And if you’ve read this far you’ll agree that the topic — and what it means for us as workers and as humans — is anything but dull.
