The Empathy Advantage

5Create the Conditions to Thrive

In two short years, everything we thought we understood about work changed.

Work was a job that you went to. In an office, a factory, a health care facility, a restaurant, shop, a shop floor. Work was a place where you had an office, a desk, a cubby, a locker. You cursed the commute that made you late and sometimes the boss that kept you late.

Work was a job with a set of tasks. Roles and responsibilities you performed for the reward of a paycheck and maybe, one day, a promotion. You stayed in your lane or you showed some initiative. Either way, it was the boss, the company, that had the leverage. You performed for their satisfaction.

Work was a job experienced with a set of coworkers. You pulled on the metaphorical oar together to move the company forward. Oftentimes, you competed with one another for bonuses, prized parking spaces, your picture in the “Employee of the Month” ensemble. You sat in meetings together and put in face time with company leaders and customers.

Then, in almost an instant, work became something different for so many workers. We worked at home, taking initiative to figure out how best to connect with coworkers and customers. We worked by ourselves or jumped on a Zoom call when we needed guidance from a manager or input from a colleague.

And perhaps without even knowing it, we crossed the threshold from the Shareholder Value Era that tied work to output and profit into the Human Value Era that married work with creative ...