HOME > NEWS AND EVENTS > NEWSLETTER > OCTOBER 2008

October 2008

From Jim and Charlie

These are clearly times that try our souls. Wall Street may be in even worse shape than Main Street, the price of gas is still ridiculously high, we still have almost 50 million people in the United States without health insurance, we're still engaged in two bloody wars (or Occupations), and most companies still expect all their employees to be in the corporate office every day.

Okay, okay, maybe the move to mobility isn't quite on the same page with all those other world crises, but from where we sit it looks like an awful lot of business executives are still trying to manage as if it was 1950 all over again.

This month all three of our thought pieces address the need for dramatic change – in our thinking, in our decisions and actions, and in our commitments to each other and the greater good. Our goal is simple: to make you terribly uncomfortable. Enjoy!

As usual, your comments and reactions are more than welcome. And as always, please send your thoughts to us at any time.

Charlie and Jim

Click on any Headline below to access the full article online. To download a pdf version of any article use the menu bar on the right.

Feature Article: Fleeing The Cuckoo's Nest

Here we go again – yet another rant about the business value of distributed work. It makes so much economic and environmental sense that we remain puzzled about its agonizingly slow acceptance by senior executives.

Compass: Someone Hit The Reset Button – Please!

We have been overtaken by events. The old industrial order and everything that supports it is crumbling. It won't get better until we start thinking in new ways. Maximizing individual benefits doesn't create a sustainable society. Investing in the greater good is the new mantra in an age of knowledge where the creation of a new civic order is our primary mandate.

Notes From The Field: Virtual Work – Preparing for the Changing Labor Force

Austin Klein of Runzheimer International shares his perspectives on the explosion of "virtual work" as a means of attracting and retaining talent, especially those Gen Y'ers who bring such different expectations to the workplace.

What's Happening?

A short note about where Jim and Charlie are, and will be, holding forth in public conversations and other activities.

©Copyright 2003-2008 The Work Design Collaborative, LLC. All rights reserved. Website development by InMotionMedia, Inc