Hello there!
Thank you for visiting my blog. I am excited to have you here.
Why did I build “our work ahead” and what can you expect from interacting with me and my community?
After more than 20 years in the business world, predominantly in Enterprise Software sales, I have been fortunate to experience some very wonderful examples of positive, thriving, safe, and high performance workplaces. I could learn from some exceptional leaders and have met lifelong learners and many very inspiring people who have helped to shape me as a person. I have also had the privilege to learn about and get insight into many different cultures and practices, having lived in 3 additional countries outside my home turf Switzerland, and having travelled for business around the globe.
As you guessed, I also have experienced some examples of how not to do it, but I view them as important lessons too which have helped me to understand myself better, and why I perform better in one environment and culture, versus in another.
A change that has been forming for quite some time now, is that we move out of the classical industrial age, into a new age. When the world entered the information age / the digital age, many of the practices and rules in business, most of them established and crucial after the industrial revolution, seemed outdated and didn’t work as well anymore in our hypergrowth economy. Generation X and Millennials have reluctantly submitted to these standards, as we were told this is “the way business works”. Now the GenZ are entering the workplace and are not willing to submit to these demands anymore.
At this point it is important to highlight another big shift: as most baby boomers will exit the workplace within the next few years, there are simply not enough GenZers in the world to replace these workers. This means two things: many jobs will have to be replaced by technology (mainly automation and AI) as well as, and the market will change to an employee-choice market. The GenZers will be able to take their pick of jobs and employers need to think hard, about how to attract talent in the future. We already see this reflected in unprecedented levels of unemployment worldwide.
We have known that our ways to conduct business are flawed for a long time, but we didn’t have a really compelling event to change, because apart from the occasional burnout and company collapse, the system still kind of worked. It was always: ethics vs. profitability. But again, this is a very outdated way of thinking. In my experience: motivated, respected, and inspired employees, perform much better than micromanaged ones that have to fear every little mistake they make because it might cost them their job. By the way, there is a truckload of academic evidence that this is indeed the case.
With this new generation, who was raised with different values and who are looking to change things for the better, we finally have a reason to pause and rethink. The megatrend called “New Work” is looking at exactly that. How can we create a more satisfactory, more ethical, and more flexible business environment, that grows sustainably despite a future shortage of talent? The people aspect that follows the transition from the industrial age to the digital/ information era is finally catching up and I find it very exciting.
The next years will bring a lot of changes and learnings for those who are open to it. Change is often difficult for people, but change is also where growth happens. Change means to keep listening, learning, and questioning things. This is hard work that many people chose not to do.
From my personal experience, working in a high-performance environment of technology sales, I can understand why it can be scary to question the status quo or try something new. However, what I have learned is that if we want to keep up with the pressing demands of organizations, people, and the environment – change is inevitable. The ways of new work, address these demands and offer solutions which we can deliver on them in a sustainable way.
In this blog, I hope to shine some light on these topics, share some learned lessons and create a dialogue for people who want to embrace a human-centric approach and learn how to thrive and perform in the new age.
