We were recently honored with an invitation to send our team member, Nani Vishwanath, to New York to experience Work, Disrupted: The 2023 Forbes Future of Work Summit.

Nani was eager to join in a day of conversations, insights, and ideas about what’s next for the future of work. Here’s a quick look at some of Nani’s notes, tips, and takeaways from the summit.

Tips and Lessons Learned:

• Listening to your employees is more important than ever. As organizations evolve their practices and ways of working, leaders need to lean in and ask their employees how things are landing. What’s even more important is the realization that failure will happen, and instead of denying this, leaders should humbly and empathetically commit to doing better 
• AI is coming to most workplaces, and arriving quickly. Organizations should move away from a “they’re coming for our jobs” mindset and towards a “what can AI do to improve the employee experience at our company?” mindset. Leaders who get ahead of this opportunity and consider ways in which they can preemptively train and support their employees will be better off 
• The “middle manager” is a vastly unsupported, underestimated and underresourced member of most workplaces. Societally, we need to be much more intentional about how we support, train,and grow people leaders.
• Organizations should be considering how they are developing plans around upskilling employees and/or creating pathways for mobility within organizations. High performing companies focus on who an employee has the potential to be, and do not limit them to their skills of today. 

Takeaways:

• We are at a critical inflection point in our society when it comes to our relationship with work. Between the chaos of the pandemic, the debate around hybrid/remote/in-person work, the uncertainty around effective DEI practices, the unknown about AI… there is much that is unknown. Leaders will need to embrace courageous innovation as we embark on this next chapter.
• Throughout the sessions, concepts related to diversity, equity and inclusion were repeatedly elevated. It is so important that these and other leaders continue to use an identity-focused lens when developing their perspectives on the future of work. Who are these ideas designed for? Who is left behind? 

Memorable Quotes:

• “Let’s not go back to work. Let’s go forward.”-  Dean Carter, Chief People & Purpose Officer, Guild 
• “Culture and community does not happen by accident.” – Yolanda Seals-Coffield, US Chief People Officer, PwC

We are committed to continuing to educate ourselves on the evolving workplace so that we can best support organizations in their efforts to create equitable and inclusive cultures where people thrive. Learn more about how we can partner together to help you take the first step here.