Organizations like this are the future of work. Please, before showering me with contempt, go to Google and enter the words: equity investment firms, Silicon Valley.

Thus far, Elon Musk has taken on the insurmountable task of paving the way for an urgent need to transform our world to electric mobility.

10 Years folks. The tipping point of the impossible is taking place right now. Every auto manufacturer is converting to electric, and in its wake, the petrochemical cartel is, shall we say, “acting out?”

The world doesn’t need more armchair critics.

The world needs new workers. Problem solvers. Artisans of their own lives. The roles are infinite. Solutions and beauty. Lest there be any doubt about the urgency at hand, consider the fact that one of the first applications of the technology revolution is cleaning up after the filthy industrial revolution before it.

This helplessness thing does not suit us. Nor does responding to someone’s success with cynicism and contempt.

As for Elon Musk, I study him. Here is a man who didn’t “buy” Twitter. His success as an innovator is so thorough that his name alone financed that purchase.

The post Study Him appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

– Richard Bach

When we look at work as a relationship, it is wise to examine how our tribes influence some of humankind’s most significant decisions about work, ones that can define the purpose of our lives, as well as impact our willingness to change. All too often, we underestimate the power of a tribe on our decisions, communications, and behavior. They are everywhere around us. Tribes are made up of families, employers, associations, clubs, towns, schools, and even brands.

Tribes have rigid rituals and expectations. When we break those rituals or expectations, the tribe responds with various versions of, “You’re crazy.”

For example:

A very successful insurance executive came through one of our programs. By the end of the first day, she had designed a compelling new career which included launching her first business. She found the new venture especially meaningful because it would solve a big problem in healthcare. That night, when she told her husband, she was lovingly prepared for his reaction, the one that indicated she was crazy to walk away from a big job that matched his perception of security.

Here’s another example:

We delivered our first leadership programs to one of the most iconic brands in entertainment. The initial program took place just after 9/11. Previously, the company had enormous resources to solve problems. But, after that terrible event, consumer spending had plummeted. We were asked to customize our program to inspire a business revolution throughout the company. In other words, instead of waiting for the resources to return, we had to orchestrate environments where individual contributors and teams would commit to transformative innovation, resiliency, and persistence.

The executives knew there would be pushback. A number of business units had laid off employees. The entire country was in one of the darkest periods of its history. People were stressed out. Now, their leaders were coming back from a retreat armed with a missive to start a revolution. Of course, they were characterized as crazy. In some cases, the most dominant member of a team would step forward to crush the initiative with cynicism and contempt. However, we created a thorough intervention with stakeholders early in the leadership experience. The executives met with the most influential members of the team and found ways to make the hard work ahead of them fit in with their own needs and expectations.

This is how we get tribes to support us.

Let’s begin with how human brains are wired. Our minds are capable of thinking about something other than ourselves for a maximum of 15-seconds. We are constantly referring back to ourselves with questions like, “Do I want this?” “Will this hurt me?”

The modern psychology of sales recognizes that pitch-selling or selling something our employees don’t want to do doesn’t work. When facing our tribe with a big change, it is always a good idea to speak in terms of what is in it for them. Time and time again, we find that leaders simply must reach the needs and expectations of each stakeholder if they want successful change in their organizations.

The same is true when one of us forges ahead with a big career change. Speaking to the needs and expectations of our family members is equally important. At one of our programs, a group of men returned from lunch laughing. Thanksgiving was a week away. A few of them had already made decisions to make significant career changes and they were envisioning how their families would respond to the news. They were all Jewish. During lunch one of them had come up with the Jewish Mother’s Hierarchy of Acceptable Career Choices.

There were 3 progressively more exciting possibilities: CPA, Attorney & Doctor. A specialty provoked a natural facelift. Make a break with the tribe and all hell breaks loose.

One of the gentlemen had been an attorney for six years and actually loathed the practice of law. A client of his was selling a florist shop. During the two days with us, he made a decision to buy the business. The following week, he would tell his family what he was about to do. His parents had paid for law school and drummed into him the importance of developing security through education and a good job. His conversation began with how much they had commented on his unhappiness with work.

“I’ve made a decision to change careers and one of my biggest motivators is to stop bringing negativity into our family. All of you know what I am referring to.”

He told them of the purchase and asked they give him a year of, at the very least, quiet or even better, support. He broke down the shock into manageable bites. A decade later, that business has grown into a spectacular success with over 30 locations. He told me that his success would never have happened without that education. The big difference is that he applied his knowledge to something he loved. Ever since that turning point, his parents receive a weekly delivery of beautiful flowers.

In today’s frenzied workplace, leaders are often stuck in a trance. The mere notion of adding another activity to their plate is met with, “I don’t have the time to do this.” But, the leader’s role is to gain as much support as possible from every stakeholder. This can only happen if the leader is connected to what his or her people want and need. Some direct reports will pour themselves into the work if they are rewarded with tangible progress in their careers. Others will be motivated by greater income. Many will be motivated by directly experiencing they are a vital part of a mission.

Leaders will never know this if they don’t ask and listen. In leadership development, it is almost routine to send out consultants to manage 360 interviews with stakeholders. Other processes use “confidential” online services where designated employees give their candid input. What a lost opportunity!

Our 360 process begins with researching business challenges, current and desired future states of the leader, as well as identifying problem relationships. We examine the quality of each significant relationship and look for potential improvements. From this intake process, we design a unique interview for the executive and each stakeholder. Then, we hand those interviews to the executive and instruct her or him to go interview their people. Initially, our internal partners developed anxiety around having leadership development participants conducting interviews without go betweens or filters. My response was, “Why on earth would you want an executive who is incapable of developing the kind of transparency where stakeholders can share their truth?”

We didn’t sugar coat the questions. For example, one of my favorites is, “What is it about me that either inspires or lowers your willingness to contribute?” Where there was conflict, we directed the questions towards tangible resolution. Where there were problems around skill deficits, we designed questions that would lead to an active learning commitment from the employee.

Of course, it takes a bit of courage to do this. But, we build safety nets so these initial conversations are the beginning of a new form of transparency between the leaders and their stakeholders.

I remember a business leader who arrived for a two-day event that occurs directly after these interviews. He had a reputation for being very aggressive and disrespectful. His technical capacity was profound but his management style led to ongoing casualties. Not long after we began, he raised his hand and stood up. People were stunned to see tears in his eyes. He told us that his perception of success had been centered on climbing the corporate ladder as quickly as humanly possible. If there were casualties, that was the cost of growing. This notion had been instilled on him by previous role models.

The interviews had led to a new outlook. He was stunned with what people had told him and realized he wasn’t getting their support because their actions were primarily motivated by fear. He told us that from this point forward, he was going to practice a new brand of success based by helping each member of his team grow and reach their own ambitions.

After giving us a variety of examples in how he would make a change, I said, “This is going to take a bit of courage. But, who in the room has had a sense of “you’re crazy” when hearing his message?”About half a dozen hands came up.

I continued, “If you are open to helping him make a long-term behavioral change, please keep your hands raised.”

Three hands remained and they became is new mentors.

Today, his business unit has a reputation as an organization that launches transformative careers. Top tier talent stands in line to get in because of the organization’s track record of meeting the highest standards and rewarding talent with accelerated career growth.

As we step into a world where accelerating change impacts us every day, we simply must build the very skills that help people stay relevant and competitive. We need leaders who fluidly zero in on what people want and need. We need leaders who listen and act. Most importantly, we need leaders who fulfill their commitments.

Many of us don’t get what we want out of life because we believe the right people will not help us. But, once we define what we want, our success is almost purely based on the quality of the support systems we build to launch, grow, and sustain our vision.

Developing our support systems is the single most powerful and sustainable way to become successful. But, sustainable support is not a one-way street. Those of us who ask for support and don’t help others will burn out and have to replace support systems. Those of us who support others but cannot ask for help will regularly burn out.

Engaging the tribe and building effective support is learnable and doable. But I have also learned that if we don’t learn this, the tribe will own us and will contribute to our failure. Quite simply, until we examine our own lives, we are living someone else’s life.

Years ago, one of my mentors, a guy named Jack Canfield, forwarded a copy of his new book to my home. I have this ritual with new books. I will randomly open a book with the notion I will read what is most important. That day, the book opened to a quote which changed everything. It read,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Raise your average.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Does Your Tribe Own You or Support You? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

– Thucydides

There was a time in my life where I put happiness into the future. I was always working towards a goal without enjoying much of this day-to-day ride called “life.” I was so busy delivering that it took a brush with mortality to answer the two most important questions of all:

• “What is the meaning of life?”
• “What do I want to do with my life?”

No one has the right to answer these questions on our behalf. But, it happens all the time.

Since 1990, we have taken people on a journey that defines what they most want to do with their lives. The program helps them craft a clear understanding in how they are going to bring their vision to life. In many cases, we also help orchestrate their practical success.

When someone defines the work that will bring them meaning and happiness, they naturally become more motivated to master the life skills that will bring their mission and purpose into practical reality. At the other end of the spectrum when our livelihood is, “just a job,” there isn’t much motivation to grow, change or practice any courage at all. As in all romances, hating our work isn’t the opposite of loving what we do with our lives. Disbelief and ambivalence are far more potent opposites.

One of the more common obstacles towards establishing happiness as adults is in getting past obsolete standards about work. The standards were foisted on us by well-meaning adults. What are those standards exactly? The standards began as a recruitment pitch from the long-dead industrial revolution. The world’s industrialists, politicians, religious leaders and educators had to come up with something that would motivate people to leave their homes, cobbler shops and fields. So, they promised that if they filled up the factories, workers would be rewarded with predictability and survival.

For over 300 years, most everyone marketed these standards. Parents became some of the standards most evangelical messengers. In my home, no one made a living doing music. I was to become a doctor, even though I have consistently passed-out when dissecting anything from a bug to a cadaver.

In my early 20s, I needed a job so I looked at my friends and selected the one who was making the most money. She helped me get a position in staffing. I seemed to have a knack for the work and became a senior executive for the next 13 years. But, my primary motivation wasn’t staffing, it was to lead an abundant lifestyle while working towards a recording contract. For years, I often brought costume changes to work so I could replace my suits with another outfit for the clubs. Six months before I launched Inspired Work, I got “the call.” A highly respected producer named Lyman Underwood had just inherited a trunkload of money and was launching a new label with Warner Brothers. He asked if I would become their first artist. Not only had my ship come in, it seemed perfectly docked.

Lyman and I became good friends. We had spent a lot of our time in the human potential movement and had wanted to make a difference in this world. Beyond our day-to-day work of crafting an album, I looked forward to talking about all that we would do together. One morning, I was slouching into my home from a long run and the phone was ringing. It was Lyman’s girlfriend. She began convulsively crying. The day before, they were getting ready to go to a party. Lyman walked to the bottom of the stairs, smiled at her, and dropped dead of a heart attack. We were both 37 years old.

Sometimes we are pulled by vision. Sometimes we are pushed by pain. This shocking and awful news led to one of the most sobering insights of my life. For years, I had pushed happiness into the future. I was always working towards happy times but my day-to-day experience of life fell far short of those visions. In fact, I realized that I knew nothing of value in how to build a life that is based on happiness right here and now. While I didn’t know it at the time, Inspired Work was born at the moment I learned Lyman had left us.

Robert F. Kennedy summed up our nation’s pursuit of predictability and survival. In 1968, he urged Americans to think about how we measure what makes a country great. He said the Gross National Product doesn’t measure the health of our children, the beauty of our poetry, our courage, our wisdom, or our compassion. In other words, ‘It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

For most of us, work is the biggest relationship that we have. The quality of that relationship has direct impact on the quality of our happiness as well as every other relationship in our lives. Come on! We spend most of our waking hours getting ready for, commuting to, being at, coming home, and recovering from work. Consequently, settling for survival and predicability rarely gives us the juice that turns life into a fulfilling journey.

When someone comes to our two-day program, they enter an exercise in self-loyalty, of differentiating between the superficial beliefs that were imposed on us and the unique career DNA that is embedded within all of us. I’ve watched the breakthrough so many times that I come to believe that until we examine our lives, to varying degrees, we are living other people’s lives.

So, if settling for predictability and survival is so limiting, how do we move people beyond these one-size-fits-all standards?

Much of the intent is captured in their first written exercise entitled,

Irrevocable Happiness.

Irrevocable means “can’t be taken away.” It is non-negotiable.

If you were happy all of the time, how would you use that time? What would you do with your life? What kind of people would be in your circle? What you would look like? What would you do for fun? How much money would you make and have? Where would you live? If you wanted to make a difference, what would that be? Would you have children? Would you be married or not? To who?

Every response to irrevocable happiness is unique and often, that definition becomes one of cascade of insights leading to real and meaningful change. From these observations, I have come to the conclusion that great careers are not about fitting in, they come out of defining the unique career DNA that is inside each and every one of us. By watching these patterns if change, I’ve come to the conclusion that until we examine our lives, to varying degrees we are living other people’s lives.

After this initial exercise the program and environment helps every person craft a clear career path. But, it also ends with a fully practical ways to bring everything together. Over the years, people have launched business for the first time, they have gone back to their jobs and become vividly successful. they have left jobs for new and better venues, some go back to school, a few have retired and devoted themselves to philanthropy. 14 have married other participants.

Yes! I love what I do!

It takes courage to do what we love. It takes courage to change. It takes a bit of courage to shed superficial beliefs. But accelerating change around us is forcing the issue. The payoff for changing ourselves is huge. We see it in the parent who was commuting four hours a day and now makes more money in less time from her home. She describes her work as “fun.” We see it in the individual who always wanted to make a difference and now does just that as a highly successful social entrepreneur. We witness the young man who calls and says, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this.” We find it in people like me who could not get traction in the music industry only to find a purpose that changed everything.

A year ago, I had lunch with my last boss. We hadn’t seen each other in years. Gail owned one of the most successful staffing companies in the country. Today, she is a celebrated artist. Fearless was her middle name. When she sat down, Gail’s first words were, “What is it like to wake up in the morning?” I asked her what she meant by the question and she added, “David, your work has touched thousands of people’s lives. What is it like to wake up to that?”

I opened my mouth and tears flowed with the words. I said, “It feels like redemption.”

When I was born, I was given to a crazy and violent adoptive home. When my friend died, the years of pursuing a career in the recording industry came to an end. There were many times in my life where I felt I was a man of little promise. I was far too burdened by the wounds from my past. But, realzing the work that I was born to do became the first effective motivation to heal, to take responsibility and become better versions of myself, to find new role models and seek the very mentors that brought change to my life.

When we commit to something that is bigger than ourselves, we become far more motivated to change.

Try it.

Take out a clean notebook or sheet of paper and write with as much detail as possible. What it would look like for you to live in a state of Irrevocable Happiness? Trust your hand, tell the truth, stick with it, see where it takes you. If there is anything in there that you want to bring to life, please feel free to reach out to us.

The post How Can You Sentence Yourself to Happiness? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Robert Fulghum

For generations, humans have traded in the spiritually bankrupt practice of telling children what to do with their work lives rather than encouraging their children to define what they most want. We can distill the practice and its impact in one phrase:

“Don’t be you.”

I once asked Jack Canfield to describe how he prepared his two sons for the world of work. He responded,

“I never told them what to do with their lives. I suggested they find something they loved doing. Then, I placed all of my attention in building their confidence in being able to deal with anything the world dished out to them.”

If we are truly committed to raising healthy, successful, and happy children we simply must encourage them to find something they love so much they become willing to deal with the chaos of change. When humans go through life without a clear and meaningful purpose, they quite what they are doing. They seek comfort over action. In other words, there isn’t a reason to take a risk or to embrace the discomfort of self-change.

The world of work is in ever increasing turmoil. I believe that much of our civil unrest lies in the fact that upwards of 48% of America’s workers view themselves as “underemployed.” Much of the disruption is rooted in the disappearance of task work. Much of the push from parents to pursue certain jobs and professions because they believed that security was to be achieved over satisfaction, fulfillment, and joy.

The most calamitous view parents can take with their children today, is to short-circuit a child’s creative imaginings by telling them phrases like, “No one makes a living doing that.” “That’s a bad idea, go get a real job.” At the core of that transaction, we are telling our kids to distrust their thought and dismiss the human truth that all of us have a unique purpose.

This is an upside-down-approach to today’s realities. For example, today’s average college graduate will change careers, not jobs, 4-6 times. In this wildly different world, learning how to sell, influence and build support systems is critical for navigating through disruption. How many families are helping their children trust their own ambitions?

For years, I have been facilitating rapid and positive change in their careers. I’ve observed thousands of people define their best career options. Observing this progression time-and-time again has led to my conviction that all of us have unique Career DNA. But, when we dismiss a child’s imaginings, when we tell them their ideas are out-of-sync with reality, many of them will listen. They will question their dreams. Worse, many will start giving us the words they believe we want to hear.

No wonder they will rebel. In fact, the human spirit will force them to rebel because whatever beauty is in there is more powerful than all of us.

When an industry comes to the end of its shelf life, children with deeply personalized vision, mission and purpose will move more quickly, reinvent more soundly, and become much happier with the results. Telling our children to settle for far less will lead to mediocrity. The healthy ones will rebel.

There are no guarantees of success. The time that we spend with our children ought to be invested in increasing their probability of success and developing a new mindset:

Define What You Love

No one has the right to define our lives on our behalf. Instead of putting down the embryonic vision of our children, encourage them to explore their interests. Find ways to provide access to the work that most excites them. Find mentors who can speak to them. But, never put down the beginnings of vision because they will stop or they will rebel.

Develop Courage Skills

One of the fundamental reasons so many of today’s workers are underemployed is because they have not developed the very skills that allow them to create change. The skills and qualities we want to develop include the ability to:

Sell

The need for strong multi-dimension sales capabilities grows everytime change accelerates. We will want to help our children develop confidence in presenting themselves, speaking to others, asking great questions that reveal the other person’s expectations and gaining entry into fresh opportunities.

Build Effective Support Systems

Whenever someone accepts an Academy Award, they usually start thinking everyone that got them to the podium. Many parents would assume they bought that support after becoming rich and famous. Actually, they became rich and famous by building a support system.

The most common reason people don’t define what they really want to do with their lives is rooted in the notion that people will not help them. However, once we define what we want to do with our lives, our success is almost purely based on the quality of the people we get to help us.

Active learning

Developing curiosity in our children is paramount in tomorrow’s success. Any savvy employer will quickly determine if the candidate in front of them is devouring knowledge or simply clocking in and out. Why is this so important? Active learning builds continual value into the talent pool and it lowers the probability of becoming obsolete and laid-off.

Perhaps the greatest gift we can instill in our children is that while security used to be derived from getting a good job, today’s security is based on our ability to grow, to change, to cast off obsolete ideas, to innovate, and to become better versions of ourselves every single day.

Sounds like the exact opposite of clocking-in and clocking-out, doesn’t it?

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post The Surprising Way to End Rebellion With Our Children appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

    – Richard Bach

All too often, we underestimate the power of tribe on our decisions, communications, and behavior. Tribes are made up of families, employers, associations, clubs, stores, and even brands.

Tribes have rigid rituals and expectations.

When we break those rituals or expectations, we are given some version of “You are crazy.”

If that seems a bit far-reaching, here are a few examples:

A successful insurance executive comes home to her husband and announces she wants to leave the 6-figure job she can do in her sleep. She is going to launch her own business, one based on an altruistic, “change the world” model.

An executive works in a major company that has just been hit with an 8% reduction in force. He calls an “all-staff” and announces the company is going to produce a revolution around innovation, marketing, and building a better place to work.

One of the most critical functions a solid leader can do is to understand when the changes they put into place are going to impact a response such as “you’re crazy.” In today’s landscape, ordering people to take on new responsibilities or change their course only works in an emergency. If we hope to engage our talent, we simply must speak to their needs and expectations rather than ours.

At one of our early programs, a group of men returned from lunch and they were laughing. Thanksgiving was coming on the following week and they were envisioning what some of them would tell their families. They were all Jewish and had come up with the Jewish Mother’s Hierarchy of Acceptable Career Choices.

There were 3 possibilities: CPA, Attorney & Doctor. A specialty provoked a natural facelift.

One of the gentlemen had been an attorney for six years and did not like the practice of law. A client was selling a florist shop. During the two days with us, he made a decision to buy the business. The following week, he would tell his family what he was about to do. His parents had paid for law school and drummed into him the importance of developing security through education and a good job. His conversation began with how much they had commented on his unhappiness with work. He told them of the purchase and asked they give him a year of, at the very least, quiet or, even better, support. Well over a decade later, that business thrives and he is happier than ever. He regularly sends large quantities of flowers to his parents with the note, “Thank you for supporting me.”

Americans love to celebrate our deep-seated independence from others. But, the only area where independence is a good idea is when we decide what we most want to do with our lives. From that point forward, our success will be based on the quality of the support systems we build. Sometimes, tribes will help. Sometimes, they won’t.

But, when it comes to leading a happy and successful life, we can use all the help we can get.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Does Your Tribe Own Or Support You? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

However, I am not pointing a finger at politics.

I am suggesting that underemployment is creating the kind of turmoil that sets the stage for the politics at hand.

When we believe subconsciously or pointedly there isn’t enough, basic human nature steps forward and hordes what we have, even if it is progressively obsolete jobs.

We tout 3.8% unemployment, a political number for decades. But, polls suggest that 30-48% of Americans characterize themselves as underemployed. That means they have been kicked to the curb by change.

Just what is underemployment?

It is holding onto an obsolete job in a shrinking industry, hoping the death angel doesn’t come around the corner.

It means holding 3 jobs to keep a roof over our families head.

It is believing our children will not have the kinds of opportunities we had.

While that last statement is true, if we present the idea they will have less opportunities, they will not even look for the abundance of new jobs that are more interesting, exciting, and in some cases, world changing.

In Future Shock, published in 1970, Alvin Toffler predicted that advancing technology would provoke accelerating change. By the turn of the century, large masses of people and entire cultures would be in a paralysis brought on by trying to absorb too much change in too short a period of time.

I don’t believe Toffler could have imagined just how far beyond his predictions we have come. Unless we have leadership that tells us to change or resources that direct the underemployed to learn how to change themselves, the next round of disruption could have negative implications for those of us who work, for decades. Even the most successful workers ought to be concerned. Because a culture that doesn’t believe there is enough is a place we might not want to live.

For example, trucking is the #1 job for 5.2 million men in our country. Robotics will dwindle that number to 800,000 in less than 8 years.

Today’s college graduate will change careers not jobs 4-6 times.

The good news? Technology is offering us freedom from tasks and the kinds of jobs that forced workers to become machine like.

Meaningful leadership would help. But, our nation’s leaders make statements like, “We ought to get these coal miners into trucking.”

For 28 years, my company has served individuals who work and organizations that strive to become better places to work. We work off a business model like most of our competitors. We fiercely protect our intellectual capital and then we sell it to the highest bidders, usually successful professionals and large employers. The underemployed sit at their computers trying to hack a solution to their work challenge.

On Labor Day, we launched a funding campaign to launch a new company called workskunk. We want to develop, as quickly as possible, a digital platform that provides meaningful solutions to work challenges for individuals and talent development for employers. In other words, we are committed to taking all of our career, leader, learning, and engagement offerings and provide them to our country without charge.

This is a community effort.

We are looking for more than gap funding for this initiative. We are seeking partners that have the passion, interest, and means to help solve one of the core problems that is undermining the world’s greatest talent pool on earth.

If my words resonate with you at all, please visit our campaign at http://bit.ly/workskunk

Match your contribution to your level of enthusiasm. If you have thoughts of how you could contribute with talent, connections, and other resources, please feel free to send me a note here.

For this, I am prepared everything we have, on the line.

The post What if the Turmoil Isn’t Political? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

This past year, I came to the conclusion that much of the turmoil rolling through our country is but a symptom of too many people getting kicked to the curb by change. For example, a 3.8% unemployment rate sounds good. But, in a wide range of surveys, 30 to 48% of working Americans characterize themselves as “underemployed” and the segment is growing. Everywhere that we look, we find the impact of change. For example, trucking jobs will decline from 4.8 million to 800,000 in less than 8 years.

Technology offers us new forms of freedom and for every step forward, there are new opportunities to actually improve our quality of life and work. Unfortunately, our culture is not effectively wired in helping people define and find the work that matters, that brings meaning into their lives and makes the world a better place in which to live.

We are about to do our part and we need your help. Inspired Work has had a really good run. When we deliver The Inspired Work Program this weekend, it will be 28 years since we launched our services. Over 43,000 participants have used our programs to transform their lives. But, did we change the world? No, we didn’t and much of that has to do with how the entire human development industry works. Quite simply, we fiercely protect our intellectual capital and sell it to the highest bidders. Affluent professionals and large employers have benefited from our services for years. But, the underemployed sit at home on their computers trying to hack solutions to their career challenges.

Without an intervention, even those of us who have wonderful relationships with our work will be impacted by the numbers of individuals who cannot catch up to change. If I am not being pointed enough, why has homelessness in Los Angeles surged by 75% in just 5 years? The growth in homelessness is primarily from underemployed workers who miss one or two paychecks and find themselves on the streets.

Make no mistake. Their problem is our problem.

We had an urgent question to answer.

“How can we take care of everyone?”

Today, we launch a journey to develop a digital platform that provides for individual workers, employers, and entrepreneurs. We will deliver these solutions without any charges for core services. The curriculum that has been used by many of the nation’s predominant employers will be available to all employers and single users without charge. The Inspired Work Program, which has been the centerpiece in all of our offerings, will be carefully storyboarded, videos will be produced by leading Hollywood talent, and rendered in ways that allow people to transform their relationship towards work at home.

The spirit in which we are making these changes isn’t just to bring innovation to Inspired Work. We are intent on providing a laboratory where anyone who works will be able to bring innovation into their careers. We will continue to help all employers become better places to work.

Cutting-edge organizations set up laboratories to hatch new inventions and are often referred to as skunkworks. workskunk will become the destination for people who want to reinvent themselves and for organizations to become better places to work.

To move forward, we want and need your help. Today, on Labor Day, we launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. The spirit of the campaign is to add enough to our investment to launch workskunk as quickly as possible. Funds will be used to design a technology platform, develop video and interactive content, launch an embedded news station and hire a few key employees.

If you are enthused about this message, please take a look at our campaign. You will hear from graduates of our programs, colleagues and clients describe in detail, why it is a good idea to support workskunk.

Please contribute anywhere from $10 to 10,000.

Please get the word out to your friends, family, and colleagues. Every contribution will be greeted with inclusion into the new community and will offer opportunities to get the most out of our new platform.

Here is the link to our campaign: http://bit.ly/workskunk

Become a Skunk!

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So you go to BMW’s website and build the car online with all of the options, “Individual” paint and leather as well as a few other options to customize your purchase. The magic moment arrives. You hit send and the dealership down the block prints out your beautiful new car.

There is no big factory.

The dealership keeps no inventory.

There isn’t any shipping.

Does this sound like a pipe dream?

Not anymore. 3D printing is at a turning point. The cost of the machines plummet every day. The interfaces are now so simple that virtually anyone can run some of the systems. In fact, the technology has moved so far beyond a novelty phase that it is, in fact, turning mainstream right now. GE is ramping up production of jet engines, medical devices and home appliance parts using 3D printing.

How will this one technology impact our world?

If you are working in a traditional manufacturing, supply and distribution setting, your best move could be to reeducate and reinvent yourself. In the next decades, China may well lose the factors that make it the world’s cheap manufacturing center. Thousands of other organizations are following suit. While the direct costs of using 3D technology are often higher, when we add flexibility, lowering inventory and eliminating certain forms of shipping, the overall costs will soon be dramatically lower.

I offer this scenario in an attempt to raise the volume in how much all of us need to learn how to change ourselves. Why is this so important? Because, when we learn the skills of self-change, we stop being at the beck and call of global change. In fact, many of us become the source of positive change. That, is a much stronger and fulfilling place to live.

For years, people have used The Inspired Work Program to redefine their professional lives, to evaluate their options and take the ones that best fit their career DNA, character as well as what is meaningful. That it happens in 48 hours serves notice to each participant they can change and now have a roadmap for doing it with greater ease.

Why must we learn how to change?

How do we change?

First, defining what we would love to do, want to do provides the investment. I’ve often said that many of us don’t define a clear mission, vision, and purpose because we assume, on some level, that people will not help us succeed. This reveals one of the most important skills of change. Because, once we do define that commitment, our success if purely based on the quality of support that we build.

During the 300 years where the Industrial Revolution define virtually every aspect of livelihood, support was frowned upon. Consider, that accelerating change requires that we become far more effective we become with the kind of self-inquiry that keeps us in ongoing touch with ourselves and the world around us. Clarity in our personal mission, vision and purpose allow us to customize our support systems.

Let’s return to the example of 3D printing. Our country seems to be in a trance about technology. Task-based work is being eliminated by technology. But, it is also offering freedom from task-based work! Work will not go away. It will change. In Germany, constant training is keeping manufacturing employees continually grow and change. Here, we lay people off. Once again, defining what we want to do with our freedom, is a far healthier way to move forward. For example, 3D printing will eliminate task-based work. But, it will also provide millions of people to become micro-manufacturers. Artists will be able to mass produce their work. Small business owners will be able to provide customized products. Later, biologists will be able to manufacture new organs using the patient’s DNA. If all of this sounds like my head is in the clouds, read and devour information! For example, in Kevin Kelly’s recent book The Inevitable, he puts forth ten emerging technologies that will produce more change in the next ten years than in the last twenty. Finding one’s place in this new landscape requires learning, unlearning, and relearning.

My readers are used to a theme. Technology is offering us freedom from mind-numbing and repetitive tasks. History has proven time and time again, that work will not go away, it will change. One of my clients brought in two pictures. One was of Pope Benedict’s christening in 2005. The other was of Pope Francis being ordained in 2013. Both were shot looking out to St. Peter’s Square filled with thousands of people . There was one difference. The more recent photo had blinding light coming from the audience as smartphones captured the moment. My client looked at me and said, “It is a bad idea to simply get irritated and complain about smartphones taking pictures. The real question is, “How can I get my message onto that phone?”

As technology takes over task-based work, virtually every profession is or will be deeply impacted. Already, attorneys with minimal business development skills are being impacted as task-based work is handed off to Legal Zoom. Software is routinely taking aways tasks from CPAs.

We fail because of isolation. The skills of change include the ability to perform rigorous self-assessment on a regular basis. As sales cycles speed up, such as looking for new work, the ability to connect with others effectively and quickly must displace that periodic and painful “networking” to find a new gig. In fact, our greatest existing success stories are filled with people who have taken the time to build extensive and highly engaged communities, all in support of their mission, vision, and purpose.

Years ago, I was asked to meet with chief human resource officer. Her organization was one of the biggest in California and it was falling apart. She asked what I believed was their biggest problem. I responded, “It has already happened. You have lost your most creative and adaptive people. These are the individuals who know they can succeed in other places. They have built reliable networks of people who love and support them. If you don’t have a safety net in place for these individuals, they dust off their resume’s, call their friends and tell them, “This isn’t fun anymore.”

Back then, the creative and adaptive worker was so rare, I had to name them. Today, anyone who wants to work must also want to grow. Anyone who grows must become an active learner. Active learning will inform us of growing rather than shrinking industries. The communities that we build will bring us new opportunities.

What does 3D printing tell us about work?

Rather than demonizing or dismissing the technology, how can you use it to your benefit?

If rote and monotonous work will be taken away from you, if you are given your freedom, what can you do that is more meaningful and interesting?

Perhaps the single greatest problem we are having with this topic is the lack of imagination and vision within our leaders. By its very nature change can be frightening and uncomfortable. If there is any one thing that is causing so much turmoil in our culture, it is underemployment. In a recent survey, 48% of America’s workers characterized themselves as underemployed. This equates to the real emergency in our culture, the one of far too many people being kicked to the curb by change.

3D printing is already in the process of turning how we manufactured things on its head. Virtual reality will change how we communicate, train, and educate others. It will eliminate unnecessary business travel. Artificial Intelligence will unleash the power to solve many of the world’s most vexing problems and it must be managed by an entire new class of workers.

If we want to be a part of this world, it is time to work on our curiosity, open-mindedness, humility, and enthusiasm. Cynicism and contempt will only delay or doom our progress. Aimlessness and resignation will keep us out of this game, entirely.

I have been at this game since 1990. My company has been in a vortex where we have witnessed the best of change in others. But, the last ten years have been revelatory and frightening. As a work culture, we went from a talent war to the worst economic recession since the Depression. The event distracted employees and workers from the accelerating change hitting the world of work. Now, the wave is growing bigger every day.

It is time that we learn how to surf.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

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Here in Los Angeles, surrounded by many of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods, approximately 4,800 homeless veterans spend every single day doing their best to survive. That figure represents a 57 percent increase in two years. Nationally, about 40,000 veterans have no place to live.

But, I am not here to get political, I would prefer to present my version of reality. Do take a good hard look at the difference between the promises many California candidates are making towards affordable housing and their actual track-record. The same can be said of hiring practices. There are many enlightened employers that have launched sizeable campaigns to recruit veterans such as Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, BAE Systems and others. However, while large companies are often more veteran-friendly, the biggest segment of jobs continue to be with small business and mid-market companies. Here, bias often gets in the way of even entertaining interviews with ex-military employees.

One of my closest friends was CEO of an international recruitment firm. She launched a special service to help qualified employers get tax-credits and her firm provided extra on-boarding support with veterans. But, after six months of heavy effort, the programs was quietly closed. She was sharing her disappointments with me when I responded, “This is all about bias.”

I went on to share that our news media, which depends on negative angles for ratings, portrays the dark side of PTSD, spousal and drug abuse as well as anger issues. Many employers will smile at us and say this is a terrific idea. But inside, their bias quietly shelves any ideas of taking on the problems. The news media isn’t telling America that when we hire a veteran we are usually going to get someone who knows discipline, persistence, resilience, humility, and purpose. We hear another dark story about the small percentage that indeed has troubles.

My friend had actually referred a Major General into one of our programs. His name is Mel Spiese and this gentleman was in charge of the global training and development of US Marines for many years. During our work together, Mel decided to launch Leaders Can Be Made, a talent development organization that helps turn all employees into leaders. provides the very code of conduct that turned the US Marines into what TEC and McKinsey characterize as “the most effective leadership organization in the world.”

I strongly suggested that we produce a video for the home page on his website. Here’s why: When most private sector buying influences hear, “Major General with the marines,” they see the scary and bombastic portrayal of George Patton. I am sure employers want a frightening character like that bulldozing his way through their call center. In reality, Mel is softspoken, civilized, highly intellectual, and kind. That is what people see the moment they visit his site.

Human beings want to forget war as quickly as possible. This is one of the reasons our country is in a deplorable relationship in caring for the veterans that need help. How bad is it? One example is of the very wealthy family that deeded their land to the Veteran’s Administration in Los Angeles. That land was to be used exclusively for the medical care and housing for our veterans. But, much of that land was being rented out to large commercial tenants. It took years of lawsuits to achieve any improvement at all.

This state is about us. We are the ones firing up our barbeques and running to flash Memorial Day sales. We are the ones that roll up our windows when a homeless person reaches out for money. We are the ones sitting idly by as a drunk is nominated to take over the #1 job at the Veteran’s Administration.

So the least that we can do is help them work and help them back into our communities. We are the ones that can talk to hiring managers about the very bias that could cause any of us to overlook their value.

Let’s be candid about our nation’s thinking. Human beings tend to not want to think about the negative aspects of our reality for much time at all. That is the second reason our country is in a deplorable relationship with its veterans. We just lost our second director of the Veteran’s Administration. That’s usually greeted with a shrug. In Los Angeles, the family that deeded the land on which the Veteran’s Administration stands had to fight a bitter court battle to do the right thing. The deed stated the land was to be exclusively used for the housing, care and medical treatment of veterans. Instead, our own government was throwing mentally incapacitated veterans out on the streets and striking lucrative real estate leases to private enterprise.

So as we fire up those barbeques, race out of town towards the woods or the beach, run into stores to take advantage of those sales, I’m encouraging all of you to also give attention to the care and well being of your veterans.

How can you help?

Talk About It

One of the best places to talk is at work. Ask people around you in what they really think about hiring veterans. How can any bias be shifted? Because bias sits quietly in the dark shutting off progress.

Talk to

When you encounter a veteran, talk to them. Find out where they served, what they gave to our country, and how they are living today. Become more open to helping them become better integrated into our community. We certainly don’t want to wait for the government to do it. Practice kindness and generosity.

Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, the President CEO of LA Family housing runs one of the most effective affordable housing organization in the country. She suggests that handing someone money is OK. But, we can do even more by talking to people who are less fortunate than us. There is a psychic drop off a cliff when someone falls on hard times. The rest of us act as if they don’t exist. This behavior produces even greater alienation.

Quite frankly, the worst we can do is to simply look the other way.

Haven’t we been doing that long enough?

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

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Yesterday, I led the last installment of Inspired Social Networking and was telling our participants that we now live in the world of transparency. The tipping point for sexual harrassment happened because of social media. Job candidates can learn more about a hiring manager than the current employees (unless they look). Stories that used to take years to gain traction now take hours. Thousands of women are now running for office because of a tidal wave of information. Young people are marching on the government with greater moral clarity than the adults.

Today, anyone who believes the world cannot see them is living in a state of delusion. Now, it is Facebook’s turn. How they respond to this crisis will determine a good part of their future. Social media grew with such ferocity that developing policy and law occurs somewhat like building a plane in flight.

Facebook, Google, and other platforms make a great deal of money from sharing information. We have known this for years. All of us have something to gain in defining the morality of how that information is used.

The world will not be making a u-turn on transparency.

Live your life with nothing to hide.

Run your organization with open doors.

Peace.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, Inspired Work, Inc. – 2018 (All rights reserved)

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