I have to admit it.  I am, frankly, quite baffled. For the last 20 years, and all around the world, we CEOs have invested untold millions into the question: “What does it take to have an engaged workplace culture?” We’ve bought books, retained consultants, rolled out surveys, looked deep into the hearts and minds of the people who work for us. We know how crucial it is to having talent who love working for us and who will offer discretionary effort and innovation. And introductions to their friends. We even know how to quantify all this stuff.

We are at the leading edge of a historic conversation. Our predecessors – the generations who ran the factories and cracked the whips – would look at us and our workplaces in awe. We know better than anyone at any time in the history of humans what it takes to create a workplace where people want to come to work, joyfully invest their efforts and talents into a cause greater than themselves, and go home happy to children who are learning from their examples.  Read more...