So, what now?

When this newsletter began, it was a simple copy-paste of our weekly newsletter. Today, that changes. And while you can still subscribe to our weekly newsletter, expect this space to be more reflective of my perspectives on the landscape of workplace fairness, the XM work we're leading at Living Corporate, and my personal reflections as I continue my leadership journey as a founder and CEO.

November 2016. I'm a consultant working for a railroad client in Kansas. I had already dealt with my share of racist incidents and was ready for a new project. After the election results, these same clients were high-fiving, joking, pointing, and laughing. "You're mad we won, aren't you?" one of them asked me. "I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied. Through smirks, they sneered, "Yeah, right."

Adjusting my flight to get back home early, I hung my head, sighed, and asked, "So, what now?"

May 2020. My phone lit up across social media. On every platform, I saw George Floyd being choked to death on camera. My father, who lives 10 minutes away from the officer who killed George Floyd, called me. He was afraid. My first daughter had just been born. I looked down at her in my arms, reflecting on the fact that this is the umpteenth person who shares my skin color to have been killed at the hands of police.

Already working during a pandemic and trying to adjust to working from home full time, I held her little body close and said to myself, "So, what now?"

October 2022. I was hard at work, building a sales pipeline for a product I developed at an organization I wasn't sure wanted me there anymore. Regardless, I was driving results—actual sales. It was exciting and gratifying to succeed in the face of uncertainty. What wasn't uncertain was that my family was expanding soon. I was two days away from paternity leave. Then, a calendar invite pops up on my calendar. My role was eliminated, along with that of 10% of the organization. I walked downstairs and shared the news with my very pregnant wife.

With tears in her eyes, she asked, "So, what now?"

Q2-Q3 2023. I'm leading the growth strategy for a DEI company. Already feeling market headwinds and a tide turning on corporate commitments to performative allyship, the news comes that the Supreme Court has repealed affirmative action for college admissions. Like dominoes, DEI roles are eliminated, and corporate commitments are rescinded. Paired with this are fears of a recession and an increase in layoffs in industries that were booming for years. A friend of mine called me in the midst of her organization going through layoffs.

"So, what now?" she asked me, completely at a loss.

In 2024, I'm still asking this question, and I'm talking to leaders of various backgrounds, industries, and positions asking this question of me. What do we make of the current world of work for employees and customers alike? While I haven't figured it all out, I do think I'm getting some clarity on a few things...

1. Experience is the Constant

While "DEI"-related language is fading from the corporate lexicon, people are still looking for specific experiences in the workplace, and it isn't complicated:

• Employees want to be treated fairly by their leadership and respectfully by their peers.
• Customers want to be treated like their dollars matter.

In a season where employee-centric initiatives are coming under more scrutiny, HR teams will be pressed to work cross-functionally with operations teams to connect the dots between effective employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX) to receive financial, social, and political capital from their executive leaders.

2. It's About Insight, Not Just Information

Organizations are constantly gathering employee (HRIS, ATS, benefits, salary, performance, productivity, sentiment, etc.) and customer (marketing, web traffic, buying behavior, sentiment, etc.) data, but few are doing the work of consolidating and connecting it in a way that executive leaders can take action on. Even fewer are taking this connected data and building predictive models to understand what is likely coming around the corner. And as rare as this is, that is insight, and that is what organizations need, especially in a time rife with uncertainty.

3. Workplace Learning is Changing

With employees being stretched further than ever before, less and less time is being made for instructor-led training, traditional e-learning courses, or multi-day workshops. Today, learning needs to be virtual, dynamic, and bite-sized. Theoretical content is also out as employees are too busy working to imagine applying learning to their day-to-day jobs. Practical, direct, and ingestible content that can be engaged on-the-go is what the current and future workforce will need to be successful.

With all of this in mind, it is for these very reasons that I am excited about the work we're doing at Living Corporate. Every leader, every individual contributor, and every organization, has or is having a "So, what now?" moment. I'm proud of the fact that we're helping organizations answer that question with confidence.

- Zach