Welcome to the New Age of Work
By: Mark Abbott
Tags: Work, Employee Engagement, Work Life Balance, Personal Growth, Covid 19

The New Age Has Arrived

At the core of this New Age of Work is the appreciation that, like Maslow’s pyramid itself, companies need to move from helping people meet their lower needs to an awareness and support of their higher and higher needs.

I believe we will move from places to work to places of Work.

Ultimately, as individuals evolve, so, too, will companies. I see it as a bit of a “Catch-22.” Ultimately, the winners will be companies that are not just committed to the betterment of the individual, but to the organization and all of its stakeholders, including society as a whole.

This is the beauty of the “Gift of Work” within this new era.

This Gift of Work is not exclusive of education, background, age or culture.

This Gift of Work is not exclusive of education, background, age or culture. For those who accept the Gift with an openness to appreciation, consideration, growth and positive development — of both individuals and companies — the traditional constraints will fall away and the Gift recipients will continue to contribute their skills, experience and value as they see fit, for as long as they like, and will be appreciated for doing so.

Allow me to share this example.

Imagine your 36-year-old self (prospective or reflective) actively envisioning your 90-year-old self as a person who is still working, loves what you do, loves who you do it with and still gets paid a very fair level of compensation for what you do. Reflect on how you deeply believe you’ve lived a great life… where you not only made the world a better place, but you continue to make the world a better place… where everyone who works with you genuinely values the work you do… where your Work continues to invigorate you and inspire others.

Now imagine the same story, only from the perspective of you as a leader.

Imagine you are a senior leader of a 15-year-old company and you’re envisioning what it needs to look like in 25 years. You envision it thriving. You love what it does. You love who it serves. You see that it continues to generate a very healthy risk-adjusted return on capital for you and your shareholders. You envision it continuing to employ wonderful people (providing for wonderful families). You’re proud that it has not only made the world a better place but continues to make the world a better and better place. And it’s clear that every one of its stakeholders genuinely trusts it (and you) and values the Work that it does (and the Work that you do).

Do these visions resonate with you? Do you want to manifest these stories?

Here’s the great news: You, me and billions of other people around the globe have the power to live this dream and make these visions real (that is, provided we’re not severely limited by some form of bad luck, and assuming our political systems continue to support the notion of freedom and our inalienable rights to pursue our own needs and happiness).

There’s even better news: If you genuinely want this and can envision it, you’ll immediately feel a huge weight has been lifted off of your shoulders. Whether you’re a worker or an employer or both, now you have plenty of time to get from here (wherever you are) to there (wherever you want to go), even if you’re approaching what was once considered “retirement age.”

This is the New Age of Work that we are entering into, an age where we not only understand and appreciate humans, but where we collectively get to Work making life better and better as we make ourselves better and better. I believe this age is coming fast at us for a whole host of reasons, which is a topic for another day.

This is the New Age of Work that we are entering into, an age where we not only understand and appreciate humans, but where we collectively get to Work making life better and better as we make ourselves better and better.

Until then, be good, if not great. We need you, especially as we all share the experience of coming of age in this New Age of Work.