Teams, not Hierarchy

• "The traditional hierarchy dates back to the Industrial Revolution...Detailed job descriptions told employees exactly what was required, and bosses made sure they completed their tasks."
• "Not only do hierarchies slow down decision-making, but they also hurt people's aspirations."
• Rather than working in hierarchical structures, we should allow self-organizing, cross-functional project teams—similar to how some consulting firms operate.
• "Teams make sense for many reasons: they are more engaging, they are quick to form and disband, and over time they generate camaraderie and trust. Just as sports teams operate with clear roles and values, business teams can do the same."
• "The focus is on empowering the individual: building a small, well-defined team; ensuring the team makes progress every day; and focusing on design, collaboration, and feedback."

Work, not Jobs

• "'Work' is happening everywhere in the world, regardless of whether one has an actual 'job.'"
• "In 2020, 59 million employable Americans worked in part-time, contingent, gig, or other forms of freelance work assignments, an increase from the 53 million Americans doing the same in 2014. And a recent study found that almost two-thirds of all younger workers now have 'side hustles' to complement their full-time jobs."
• "The bottom line is this: we have moved from an economy where your employer defines your career to one where your skills, experience, and ambition drive success."
• "People who move from one function to another (from HR to sales, from sales to marketing, and from finance to operations) always outperform their peers."
• At some companies, because there's no internal mobility program or culture of changing departments, the best way to change jobs is to quit and reapply. That's absurd.

Coach, not Boss

• "[W]hile we all want leaders to be great businesspeople, decision-makers, and project leaders, above all they need to be great drivers of culture. People watch their behavior, they do what leaders do, and they learn from the way leaders reward or punish activity."
• "Today's successful leaders lead by example, empowerment, and inspiration instead of by position, level, or title."
• "You know you're a good leader when you have good followers." -Colin Powell
• "Remember that managers, like fish in a fishbowl, behave the way they are rewarded. If we want to get managers to be coaches, we have to reward coaching, feedback, development, progression, and continuous learning."
• "Do you reward talent consumption of talent production? Do managers get rewarded for hoarding great people and getting them to stay on their teams? Or do you encourage and reward managers for moving people out of their teams and into new development opportunities?"

Culture, not Rules

• "Workplace design really does matter...There is an almost perfect correlation between an employee's level of engagement and his or her satisfaction with the physical workplace."
• "88 percent of employees feel more engaged and productive when they can select where they do their work."
• "96 percent of employees feel more engaged and productive when they can move around and change posture during the day."
• "Recognition has a tremendous impact on performance. My research suggests that companies with high-recognition cultures have as much as 30 percent lower voluntary turnover ratios on average."