WEBVTT
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(music)
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About 250 years ago,
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the Industrial Revolution created today's working model.
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For the first time, people left their homes
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to work in factories and offices.
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We had to be in the same place at the same time
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to get work done.
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Today, I stand here in this empty office
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yet work is getting done.
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COVID has accelerated changes
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that were already underway.
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Digitization, remote working and virtualization.
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Companies have found
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that their workers can be just as productive
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working without the old constraints of time and place.
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Business leaders have the opportunity and the imperative
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to intentionally architect the future of work,
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to unleash a new wave of human ingenuity and productivity.
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COVID has accelerated changes in both customer
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and in employee preferences.
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B2C e-commerce was accelerating
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even before the pandemic began
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and now in the US, 50% of B2B customers
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say they're comfortable going fully virtual.
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Such changes in customer preferences
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give us a unique starting point
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for designing the future work in organizations.
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And the employees who serve these customers
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have changing expectations too.
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40% of employees BCG recently surveyed
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say they want flexibility in wear and/or when they work.
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And 50% said that they have been at least as productive
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during the pandemic as they were before.
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These changes in customer and employee expectations
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call for a holistic approach
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to architecting the future of work.
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For business leaders, this means focusing on four areas:
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how we work, how we lead, how we organize and what we need.
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By how we work, we mean reimagining customer relationships
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and employee work models.
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Business leaders need to be ready to embrace disruption
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in these areas
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and meet customers and employees where they are
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and where they want to be.
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How we lead entails empowering leadership
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all the way from the C-suite down to the frontline
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to create a purpose-driven culture
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that truly inspires people.
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How we organize,
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that involves new ways of working
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embedding agile everywhere
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to make the organization more adaptive
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as well as embracing new talent models
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like gig economy talent
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as well as creating career paths
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that maybe more like jungle gyms than ladders.
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What we need, that's about smart work environments:
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physical spaces, tools and technology
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and equipping the organization with the right skills.
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In designing the future of work,
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it's critical for leaders to understand
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the vast amount of value at stake.
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It's revenues, efficiency, customer satisfaction,
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employee satisfaction, retention, hiring
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and the increasingly important sustainability and wellness.
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And it's for this reason that we encourage leaders
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to think broadly and holistically
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when they invest in thinking through the future of work.
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It can be tempting to say
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that with the vaccine now available,
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the virus will soon be contained
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and we can revert back to old work models.
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However, doing so would be a momentous waste.
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Companies have a once-in-a-millennium opportunity
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and obligation to redesign work for the way work should be,
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not just the way it used to be.
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This will take intentionality, effort,
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leadership engagement and real innovation.
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But it will create a future of work
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that will unlock new talent,
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creativity and productivity benefits
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we have only glimpsed so far.
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(techno music)