The gig mindset — bold new breed — on the Innovation Show

Originally published in the first issue of my newsletter Inside Outsiders on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here. Inside outsiders combine the clarity and objectivity of being outside an organization with in-depth knowledge because they are inside. This unusual combination–rare in most organizations–is essential today, in people in general and especially…

Gig mindset work cultures are forerunners of work organizations where fear does not dominate. Our fearless flyer in the photo, Karl Wilhelm Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) was a German pioneer of aviation who became known as the “flying man”. He was the first person to show that flying a craft “heavier than air” was possible. His work was described along with photos in newspapers and…

I want to talk about a term we throw around too easily: future-proofing. We can learn from legacy companies that were leaders in the past and are still leaders today. I co-authored a book in 1996 called l’Avantage internet pour l’entreprise (in French) where I identified leaders in their industries. A few are still leaders today, three or more decades later. …

You can influence change from inside an organization or from outside. The perspectives and approaches differ. My focus today is on how you can influence change as an insider. It is based on what I’ve seen and what many clients have shared with me over past years. I’ll write about…

Communication role must evolve or disappear Is the Communication function still relevant? The question reminds me of reading Alan Rusbridger’s 2018 book Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now. Editor of The Guardian for 20 years– he was involved in some of the critical, defining moments in journalism. He says the following: “Journalists no longer stand on a…

Birth of the Icehotel Gareth Morgan published Images of Organization in 1986, over three decades ago. It was considered to be ground-breaking because it was an overview of organizational design that, through the mechanism of metaphors, was comprehensible far beyond the academic world. His eight original metaphors, each incorporating a…

Inside Outsiders This article is a short take based on input from my 2021 gig mindset survey. I conducted two surveys, one in 2018 and the second in 2021, the second deliberately looking to see how the workplace had changed during these critical years. Qualifier: The question of what changed…

This report, just published, is a three-year perspective based on two gig-mindset surveys in 2018 and 2021. I’ve included occasional references to data from 2014 and 2016 for an even broader perspective. See the details when you download a copy of the report here from my website. My key observations: Good but not great …