We Can Change... despite the backlash

Don't believe the hype, we're just getting started

[Some of you may have spotted this on LinkedIn, but it got such a response I wanted to share it here as well. That, and I’m deep into readying my Agents of Radiant Change course for launch next month, so that’s where my content juice is going.]

In response to this nonsense:

Hard disagree. A new era of empathetic x effective leadership is just beginning.

Sure, it got a huge boost thanks to a pandemic that forced all of us to a) work in new ways, b) reckon with our relationship to work and c) acknowledge that we—and our colleagues—are human beings after all.

And yes, there’s now a backlash, because there always is. Change begets resistance. Every. Single. Time.

We have to look at more than just the headlines and the reactive impulses of people with institutional power. We have to look at shifts in collective awareness, updated priorities (like purpose), emerging patterns vs short-term strategies (such as a strong job market amid share-price-chasing layoffs). We have to remember there are other kinds of power.

And importantly, let’s be clear that most of the “people-first strategies” outlined in this article were also reactive, surface-level and inadequate. Free food. Unlimited PTO. Yoga classes as mental health programming.

Please.

These were shallow, symbolic perks—easy for employers to do, and easy to undo. Either way they don’t begin to address the core needs employees have—like meaningful connection, a sense of purpose in their work, personal and professional growth—or the systems that must shift in order to meet those needs.

Don’t believe the hype. This backlash was always coming. When it comes to building a better, more human #futureofwork, we are only getting started.