Traditional workplace norms often exacerbate mental health challenges, with consequences for employees and business outcomes alike. In a KOAN Conversation, JR Kuo, founder of CoffeeWithJR, and Integrated Work CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson discussed reshaping organizational culture to prioritize mental well-being and help enhance business productivity, profitability, and employee satisfaction.

Prevailing workplace norms and hierarchies — long hours, stressful deadlines, an always-on culture, top-down leadership — reinforce unsustainable expectations and inequitable frameworks that exacerbate mental health conditions. While mental health has been a taboo topic in many companies, recent events and trends are making it a growing issue for businesses:

• Employees experiencing depression and anxiety miss 12 billion working days every year, which costs the global economy $1 trillion in lost productivity, according to the World Health Organization.
• Gen Z and young millennial employees are missing the equivalent of one day’s work every week due to mental health concerns, according to a UK survey.
• The COVID-19 pandemic put a new focus on the connection between work and mental health and how jobs affect employee well-being, a challenge addressed in a guide from the U.S. Surgeon General.

As the connection between mental health, employee well-being, and organizational success gains attention, some business leaders are exploring ways to develop a nurturing workplace. JR Kuo, Founder of CoffeeWithJR, uses his personal and professional experience with mental health to inform his work with businesses, nonprofits, and universities to enhance organizational performance.

Kuo recently joined Integrated Work CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson for an online KOAN Conversation about the importance of connection and kindness in fostering mental well-being and creating more compassionate, supportive work environments. Their discussion explored some topics in Jen’s book, the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, including how to create conditions for creativity and establish human-centered policies.

Reshaping workplaces to acknowledge and support worker well-being requires leaders to rethink practices and policies, and consider how to shape environments where workers can thrive, Simpson said. “Part of creating that shift involves transforming those stories that we have right about what it means to be a healthy person or what it means to be a good worker,” she said. “If we equate a good worker with the person who can power through and work 80 hours a week, that puts a whole swath of the population fundamentally at a disadvantage, and then we design systems that are optimized for the few instead of optimized for the many.”

Kuo’s experience with well-being and work is based on his personal struggle with depression in his college years and early 20s and his professional work while helping lead a friend’s construction company. A project manager there was struggling with mental health issues, Kuo said, but the company’s legal and human resources team told him not to get involved. The employee’s job performance continued to decline, and he eventually was let go from the position.

“More people are aware that mental health is very important not only for our employees, for everyone’s well-being, but also for the business’s bottom line,” he said. “More and more data has shown that when employees are happy — with good mental health — productivity goes up, profit goes up.”

During the conversation, Kuo identified five ways that leaders and organizations can better support worker well-being.

1. Reflect on your own “why” for wanting to improve mental health support and awareness.

During his struggles with depression, Kuo realized that movement — a walk, stretching, resistance training — helped ease his mind. “So that is my why,” he said. “I always recommend people take some time to really reflect on their why, their purpose. … Once you know the why, then the how comes a little bit more naturally.”

He also turns to learnings on mindfulness and patience from his time spent studying as a Zen monk. “In our society, we emphasize short-term gratification. We want to succeed right away. And this is very, very opposite Zen Buddhism. Because in Zen Buddhism, we’re talking about long-term. It’s a lifetime commitment, not a three-month commitment.”

2. Empower employees to make the best decisions for themselves, rather than just trying to enforce “right” or “wrong” behaviors.

Leaders who establish a company vision and help team members see how they contribute help create calmer work environments. Kuo shared a mantra he learned through harm-reduction practices: “When you empower people, they make the best decisions for themselves,” he said. “The old thing would be they make the ‘right’ decision. Whose right decision? Immediately we go to good or bad, right or wrong. But people will make the best decision for themselves, and most likely for the company, if they feel empowered.”

3. Cultivate habits of mind like mindfulness and presence to build awareness and focus.

Being mindful of feelings can help people manage their actions and emotions. “It’s important to have an awareness that OK, I’m not doing too hot, and to have the ability to recognize that we can have two, three, four different emotions going at the same time,” Kuo said. “Without the courage and strength to identify these emotions and own up to them, we will continue to be stuck in this denial phase that, I’m good, and the problem is yours.”

Through his work, Kuo encourages individuals to accept what’s going on in their minds and bodies, which can be especially challenging for men. “Then we can slowly transform and start thinking differently,” he said.

He shared a personal example of this related to his goal to avoid putting in long hours — a behavior rewarded in many work cultures. “Whenever I notice myself working long hours and feeling prideful … I will use my awareness to ask myself, Do I really need to work that extra five, six hours? Can I just cut that down and use two extra two hours for my self-care?” he said.

4. Ensure leadership is fully invested and passionate about mental health initiatives, not just treating it as a checkbox.

Convincing leaders that it’s important to address and support individual well-being is the biggest challenge Kuo faces in his work. “It goes back to the balance between employee well-being versus the bottom line,” he said. “There’s also that historical fear — it could be bias, it could be prejudice — that when we care too much about employees’ well-being, the employees might take advantage of us.”

To overcome the historical us-versus-them mindset, Kuo helps leaders develop a holistic view and acknowledge the emotional aspects of human nature. “Without that leadership investment, that passion to set the tone, to set the culture, we will be just spinning the wheel over and over again,” he said. “Until we can have honest conversations about human greed, desire, anger, emotion … then it’s really hard to talk about that culture.”

5. Explore the power of storytelling to engage people and inspire open conversations about mental health.

One of Kuo’s recent projects provides a creative example of how to get people talking about mental health. The Los Angeles County project, “Behind the Red Door,” used live theater performances to explore mental health issues among Asian American communities and others who historically have been hesitant to discuss the topic.

“Behind every family, there are untold stories of mental health traumas and other challenges,” he said. “Because there are so many of these untold stories behind these beautiful doors, many of us are suffering.”

While Kuo acknowledges that a two-hour performance won’t provide a quick solution, he said programs like this can encourage audience members to explore the feelings and thoughts prompted by what they’ve seen and heard. “The more they can think about it, the more they can talk about it with their friends and family,” he said.

Watch the full conversation:

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

5 Ways to Nurture Mental Health at Work was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Reimagining ways of working and leading requires a willingness to explore change in large and small companies, in traditional and cutting-edge industries. That means involving many people who may not see the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and can be barriers to progress.

Working in one such industry — engineering — is what motivated Mark McBride-Wright to develop a DEI philosophy that incorporates kindness, empathy, and curiosity. In a recent KOAN Conversation, McBride-Wright and Integrated Work CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson explored his safety-based approach to inclusion. Their discussion is part of a series of conversations exploring concepts in Simpson’s book, the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, based on a framework for imagining new models for living and organizing in Kind, Open, Adaptive, Networks.

As a chartered chemical engineer, McBride-Wright has personal and professional insight into the importance of creating space for empathy in workplaces where it historically has been rare. During the KOAN Conversation, he shared how he builds on the concept of safety to encourage people to see how diversity and inclusion efforts involve all of us. Since founding EqualEngineers in 2017, McBride-Wright has helped organizations in the (primarily white and male) technology and engineering sector explore what it means to create spaces where everyone can bring their whole selves to work.

Through surveys, he found high rates of depression and suicide at engineering firms. “We would never tolerate such a high rate of loss of life when it comes to physical hazards,” he said. With that as a foundation, he established the SAFE approach to DEI work — share, act, feel, and empower — that he explores in his book, The SAFE Leader. Encouraging each person to think about their own diversity story and differences can help them see how each of us faces human struggles, and why DEI programs apply to everyone.

“We’ve all at some point in our lives felt exclusion, othered, and different,” McBride-Wright said. “We are 7 billion people in this world and growing, and we’ve all had diversity of experiences and upbringings and different perspectives.” With that realization, people are most likely to recognize that members of some ethnic or demographic groups experience exclusion more frequently.

Developing empathy for others is the crux of the SAFE approach. “It’s work that’s important for us all to do, for us to know who we are inwardly more than the labels that define us,” McBride-Wright said. “Hard work is needed to change systems and address inequality.”

Stepping Into Confidence of Becoming an Ally for Others

But in analytical fields like engineering, internal exploration and storytelling may not be familiar approaches or skills. To help participants gain skills needed to share, EqualEngineers incorporates storytelling training in its program. “They’re very often focused on finding a solution to the problem,” he said. “But by human nature, people are fallible and complicated and messy and emotional.”

Then, the other layers — act, feel, and empower — help people move from a position of apathy into curiosity. “You’re stepping into this confidence of becoming an ally for others,” McBride-Wright said. You’re getting comfortable sitting in that discomfort.”

Simpson noted that exploring our own stories can help us reconsider our workplace behaviors and practices. “You run into unexplored assumptions or beliefs that you didn’t actually recognize were in there. It’s the act of stepping in that allows you to sort of uncover that next layer,” she said.

McBride-Wright gave the example of one organization that discovered that fertility issues were a common concern among its employees, although it wasn’t a topic of discussion. Through surveys, they discovered about 30% of employees were dealing with that challenge and established a parent and caregivers employee resource group to assist.

Beyond sharing, developing empathy also involves getting curious and creating connections with colleagues — what McBride-Wright calls “being a source of empowerment for others.” And creating a caring culture doesn’t require being open about everything in our private lives. “In an inclusive culture, it means you are able to do that if you need to a will be supported — versus a culture of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

It also can involve practicing the SAFE concepts in spaces outside of work, Simpson said. “Sometimes it feels risky to be transparent about certain things with our co-workers. Consider the spaces where you can begin to build some of that muscle,” she said. “It can be helpful to the world and to us, to start telling our story and get feedback. Then we see how our experiences align or don’t align with others.”

What Characterizes a Kind Culture?

McBride-Wright said workplace cultures that nurture empathy and kindness can be identified by exploring employee attitudes about work and the overall atmosphere. “There can be a disconnect between intention and reality, and trying to use your sense to figure out if you can be open here,” he said.

“You can tell a lot from the leadership of an organization and the values that are on the website, and whether that marries up when you start to experience it at all touchpoints — the recruitment process, the interviews, once you visit a facility.”

He emphasized that the work of creating an inclusive culture with empathetic curiosity does not mean shaping a monolithic culture. “This isn’t about trying to make everyone agreeable or that everyone has to change opinions,” he said, noting that those typical expectations can cause defensive reactions and pushback.

In a psychologically safe environment, people feel safe being open about anything — and that may lead to tension, but they don’t face negative recourse. “It’s about sparking the curiosity to allow that conscious difference to coexist … then you can make better decisions.”

And leaders can demonstrate that by sharing their own stories and engaging with curiosity. “Your leadership shadow that you cast across the organization carries weight and has the influence to change behaviors,” McBride-Wright said.

In fields such as engineering, encouraging people to explore new ways of relating can be uncomfortable work. It means recognizing that most white men have typically experienced anger-oriented ways of leading and relating, McBride-Wright said, and likely have internal trauma issues to explore. “So love, compassion, empathy — the feeling that we don’t often associate with being a man — we must actually start to infuse them.”

Putting curiosity and empathy first also represents a more holistic approach to inclusion, Simpson said. “It’s not just about changing the faces around the table or holding the door open wider — yes, those things are important — but it’s about how much of you gets to come through the door.”

Engaging more people throughout an organization means more people are part of important conversations, where creativity and innovation can flourish. “It’s a way to see there is more we can create for everyone,” Simpson said. “The people who are willing to go first … see something different will be better.”

Watch the full conversation:

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Creating Space for Empathy in the Workplace was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Crafting Tomorrow Together: A KOAN Conversation with Darrie Matthew Burrage

Leaders with a vision of a more just future are shaping organizations that prioritize human well-being alongside business success. By adopting and maintaining a human-first approach, leaders help foster supportive cultures of choice and empowerment.

Examples of the shift toward human-first organizations were the focus of a recent KOAN Conversation featuring Integrated Work CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson and Darrie Matthew Burrage, a Senior Consultant at Integrated Work and pioneer in developing and delivering justice-based, human-first interventions. Their discussion is part of a series of conversations exploring concepts in Jen’s book, the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, based on a framework for imagining new models for living and organizing in Kind, Open, Adaptive, Networks.

Through his work, Darrie partners with leaders and organizations to advance human-first interventions in organizations for greater inclusion and innovation. In terms of everyday operations, this can include envisioning and implementing policies for a four-day workweek, expanded family leave, and intentional recruitment practices.

In these and other ways, leaders can create supportive work environments with people-first policies that better balance business needs with employee well-being. Darrie said it requires considering new ways of operating: “How can I create structures and an environment for people to make different or better choices? How can we make it easy for someone to make the choice that elevates us all, including one’s own self?”

When behavior that makes people feel supported becomes the norm in organizations, they can help to drive change on a broader, societal scale, Jen said. “Our ability to influence the world around us, to shape the futures, the tomorrows that we get to live into is really a function of the quality of relationship and the community we’re operating in.”

How a Human-First Approach Supports Sustainable DEI Initiatives

Darrie said his approach to improving interactions and illuminating new possibilities is shaped by his training in public convening, interaction design, and facilitation. “I learned that the quality of interactions could better illuminate new possibilities,” he said. “A main driver for me in this work is realizing that we haven’t hit the summit in our hike of human experience.”

For organizations with traditional hierarchies, moving to a human-first approach can be the foundation for organizational efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI — a concept that recently has become politicized. “It’s about power, ultimately. DEI has us closely examine power,” Darrie said. “But when we think about the phrase human-first, it’s about how can there be a healthy and sustainable balance of power. Sometimes that balancing of power requires some shifting of power.”

Darrie emphasized the need for dignity, agency, access, and atonement to support and advance DEI initiatives. He highlighted the significance of sustainable structures for DEI initiatives, including dedicated budgets and staff, and inclusive stakeholder involvement. “When we think about dignity, we’re talking about the agency of people — in other words, choice. Where can we create opportunities for and protect the choice of others?” he said. “We’re also talking about access to opportunities.”

While some people may view DEI programs as creating opportunities primarily for People of Color, Jen noted that they hold lessons and relevance for each of us. “It’s about elevating everyone’s humanity so that we’re on equal footing with one another, and recognizing that that doesn’t just happen with the flip of a switch,” she said. “There is a historical context. There are past harms.”

Jen said that’s where changemakers like Darrie are focusing their work to untangle established dynamics. “Creating a context that enables real equity and true inclusion requires a willingness to say, ‘What’s interfering with that? What has been put in place that unchecked will just give us more of the same in the future.’”

Navigating Challenges with Transparency and Communication

Some leaders may see human-first programs as just another competing organizational priority that they must balance. “There is some serious juggling that happens. Whether it’s business needs and employee well-being, or expectations and capacity … another big tension is short-term challenges and long-term benefits,” Darrie said.

As they work to introduce new policies or practices such as a four-day workweek or expanded family leave, leaders can ease tensions with transparent communication about challenges. By acknowledging the goal and the process it requires, leaders can help teams feel more connected and secure in their organization. “A challenge has to be met with a commitment to a vision,” he said. “Folks want the security that, despite the challenges, we are on a path that leads us to a better place.”

Sign up for the next KOAN conversation! Register free here.

Watch the full conversation:

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

A Human-First Approach to Leadership was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

At Integrated Work, we have always wanted to support our team members as they grow and support their families. Long before any laws required it, we offered flexible time off to team members experiencing family transitions, and a few years ago we added four weeks of half-time pay for new parents or medical emergencies. It still felt like too little, but we were glad to be able to do something. As a CEO whose children are now in their late teens, I was committed to the rising generation of team members having more support than I had 20 years ago.

Thankfully, over the last few years, many states have successfully enacted policies that enable paid leave to be funded through modest payroll contributions. The evidence is unequivocal: Paid family leave alleviates financial burdens, promotes a healthier work-life balance, and enhances productivity and team loyalty. As a small business, we significantly expanded our paid family leave policies because of state-sponsored programs in states where our staff live, like Colorado, California, Washington, and New Jersey. We recognize that such policies are essential for fostering supportive, equitable workplaces, and we extend comparable benefits to team members who live in states that have not yet passed their own legislation.

As a nationwide employer, it has changed the calculus. I predict that states implementing these beneficial programs will find their workforce in greater and greater demand over time. As we move through a period when new policies and proposals are introduced at the state and national level, we feel renewed hope for meaningful changes that allow us to support our employees in human-first ways. Among these, the proposal for an expanded paid family and medical leave program represents a transformative step toward supporting parents, caregivers, and low-wage workers. This proposed nationwide legislation would address the critical needs of those who often face the greatest economic challenges and includes provisions that benefit diverse family structures, including LGBTQ+ families, and those who provide care to ill or aging family members.

The View from Our Backyard: The Impact of Colorado’s FAMLI Act

In Colorado, the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FAMLI) Act has significantly influenced how we evolved the structure of our leave policies. It has always been important to me that any benefit we provided was a “real” benefit, in that we could afford to fund it even if many people used it at once. As a small business, this meant that we had to “save for a rainy day” and set aside reserves that would allow us to fund those benefits while also running the business and investing in our growth.

With the passage of the FAMLI Act, we can now provide workers with up to 12 weeks of paid leave, above and beyond other leave benefits, allowing them to take time off for personal or family health issues without sacrificing financial stability. This has enabled us to offer benefits that are more comparable with larger companies, supporting our small business in building an amazing team and retaining them. This policy doesn’t just benefit individual workers; it strengthens small, women-owned businesses like ours by helping us create a more supportive work environment.

Why Paid Family Leave Matters

Paid family leave is more than just a benefit; it’s a crucial component of a fair and just society. Here are some reasons why this policy is so important:

1. Economic Stability: Providing paid leave helps families avoid financial hardship during critical times.
2. Health and Well-Being: Time off for caregiving leads to better health outcomes for both caregivers and those they care for.
3. Workplace Productivity: Supported employees are more engaged and productive, reducing turnover and associated costs.
4. Gender Equality: Paid leave encourages shared caregiving responsibilities, supporting women’s career advancement.
5. Social Equity: Implementing this policy promotes social and economic equity, especially for low-wage workers.

Our Commitment at Integrated Work

We appreciate the hard work of everyone who has advocated for policies that recognize the invaluable contributions of caregivers not just to their families, but to the social fabric that binds us all together. At Integrated Work, we are dedicated to creating environments where everyone can thrive, supported by comprehensive family care policies. Our commitment includes:

• Implementing Supportive Policies: We promote paid leave, flexible work arrangements, and robust support systems for all employees.
• Raising Awareness: We work to raise awareness about the importance of paid family leave and other supportive workplace policies.
• Engaging with Community: We collaborate with organizations and policymakers to support the implementation of initiatives that support caregivers and families at all levels.

Join Us in the Movement

What are you doing to support this important work? We’d love to learn from you.

Together, we can advocate for a future where paid family leave is a standard practice in every workplace. Let’s build stronger, more resilient communities that value and support the essential work of caregiving.

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

The Power of Policy: Making Paid Family Leave Accessible was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The human-first approach that guides Integrated Work in its consulting, leadership development, and facilitation with clients also serves as a guiding value for our team. We recently transitioned to a four-day workweek to provide more schedule flexibility and time for the other pursuits that make us happy, whole humans.

CEO Jennifer Simpson has been committed to human-first workplace evolutions for decades. She and the team have steadily been implementing solutions that help people do better work by living fuller, more joyful lives. They’ve focused on implementing pay equity, developing family and parental leave policies, and providing benefits that support civic engagement and giving back to the community.

Now, the whole team is betting on their ability to get even more done in less time by working from joy and fulfillment rather than exhaustion and depletion as they pilot a four-day workweek.

A few years ago, Integrated Work Director Kate Shervais heard a radio article about Iceland’s move to a four-day workweek , and the team began exploring the idea in greater detail. “It’s fascinating to think that an entire country could manage that level of change,” Kate says. I had my own work experiences where I realized that the work that I did in the context of 80 hours a week wasn’t necessarily better, smarter, or more creative. There was a lack of space and creativity.”

If it worked well at such a large scale, Kate and the team thought it could work on a smaller scale as well. “The parts that I especially loved were decoupling productivity and hours, and that’s still something that’s so hard to conceptualize,” she says. “As we have looked at implementing this, we have to catch ourselves in thinking about our ability to get good work done just in terms of hours.”

Over time, Kate and Jen brought others into the idea, sharing research on four-day workweek models and championing the switch. “I’ve been looking at alternative models of organizing and what makes work go well for a long time,” Jen says, noting that as a child, she lived in Europe, where a 30-hour workweek has been the norm for decades, but that her early work-life had been the opposite. “Having spent a lot of my early professional life in an environment where you just pushed hard and worked longer and stuck with it until you were depleted and exhausted, I just don’t believe that’s how the best work happens.”

Those conversations led to the formation of an internal team that shaped Integrated Work’s pilot of a four-day workweek. During the pilot, the team will experiment with core working hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. MT Monday through Thursday for all team members, with Friday afternoon designated as time off for everyone. Beyond those hours, team members have the flexibility to work when it’s best for them.

Integrated Work team members involved in shaping the pilot program gathered to discuss their hopes and curiosities about the new schedule and what it might mean for their work and their personal lives. Find excerpts below from the discussion with Senior Consultants Telania Thomas-Smith, Mikayla Branz, and Darrie Matthew Burrage, Design and Brand Manager Nick Delgado, along with Jen and Kate.

How does a four-day workweek serve as an example of Integrated Work’s values and human-first approach to building teams and nurturing a more innovative workplace?

Telania Thomas-Smith: This experience allows everyone to have a little bit more flexibility, peace of mind, and the ability to really have a rested brain to approach client work and to work with ourselves and colleagues in a really authentic, meaningful way.

Mikayla Branz: It’s related to our JEDI values, that human-first perspective. When it comes to equity, people have different things going on in their lives that they need to handle, whether it’s picking up kids from school or taking care of their physical needs, like rest. People have disabilities, people have families, people are caretakers. Rather than being prescriptive about how work has to get done, this is a model where people can make choices based on the needs they actually have.

It’s an equity mindset for the employee and their family, and it allows them extra time and space to be involved in their community-whatever that means to them.

Jen: It also encourages transparency around the fullness of our lives. It invites us all into conversation about what our unique needs and circumstances are in a way that humanizes us to each other, and I think that has a real meaningful impact on how we work with each other and how we give each other grace and support around the things that we need to do our best work.

Kate: We want our experience of working together to not feel dissonant from the impact that we want to have in the world. There are times when you’re doing the work and can feel bogged down by it, exhausted by it. That’s not the experience we want our clients to have of their own workplaces or their own cultures, so this is a way for us to make sure our team is modeling and experimenting with what we want to see elsewhere in the world.

What expectations or curiosities do you have as you launch the pilot?

Telania: I wonder what it will take for it to work. What will it take for all of us to pour in and make this really work?

Mikayla: A big question is how we’re going to have to interact with each other differently. Rather than engaging less in work because you are there for fewer hours, there’s a way in which we have to be more responsible and present, especially in asking for and receiving support from our co-workers. I need to think about how other people are part of this and if they have the capacity.

And when other people are taking space and time for their lives, how do I show up with my own boundaries around what is my work but also in support of them? And how do we do that in an equitable and human way?

We love to do really long check-ins, and that’s really important for the social fabric of our work together. How do we balance that with what might be a more focused approach? There’s a lot of vulnerability we have to have in doing this with each other.

Kate: I think we’re going to have to get more specific with each other, not just in asking for support but even in the beginning of working on something together and setting expectations. I don’t think we’re going to have quite as much space for back-and-forth because we’re creating more space for creativity and flexibility. I think ultimately, what we create will be better. But I do think there’s going to be a transition time where it doesn’t.

Mikayla: I also think about how we can use it to build trust. When I think about the different levels of trust that are needed to do this, part of it is that our clients are trusting us to do a good job and hold their challenges, and be responsive and responsible for the work that we said we would do. That is also in line with our values, and why we all work here. So it’s maintaining or increasing that level of trust with them.

From an internal perspective, we may have to trust each other’s work a bit more and be OK with people doing it not exactly the way we would do it. I expect that we’ll build trust through experience.

What activities (or lack of activities!) do you have in mind for your “extra” weekend day?

Darrie: I have aspirations for a more grand impact. So it provides space to work on that. It’s adding another dimension to my impact pie.

Mikayla: I would love to be able to take care of my mental and physical health better with the extra time. I also get to be a stronger community member through time for my doula work. I get to build my own little side business. From a JEDI perspective, this works well with my cultural experience, giving me time to prepare for Shabbat on Friday nights. I’ve never had that option before.

Jen: As the owner, I will say those things don’t live for me as not work-related. Mikayla’s ability to live a full, enriching, and rewarding life makes her a more engaged citizen and connected member of her community, and that makes her more valuable to clients because she is living a full, human life.

Telania: I was a part-time employee, so this was a shift to full-time and 32 hours. What I do look forward to in that space is this will be an experience we’re all having, where before there were three or four of us who were part-time.

For me, time spent outside of work means time with family, being outside, and doing the non-work stuff, whatever that might be.

Nick: Mainly, it’s more time to spend with family. An hour makes a big difference at the end of the day-more time to cook, clean, and hang out with everyone. It’s a huge change, and I’m excited to experience what it brings.

Kate: I’m excited to have flexibility in the day to work on things that I feel energetic about at the moment. There are times when, on Saturday morning, I really want to sit down and read a 40-page document and edit it.

Having the autonomy to define where work fits in your life and follow your energy feels important to me. Also, I’m looking forward to times when you can get outside and go on a hike because it’s actually beautiful then, even though it’s going to be raining later. There’s something about our physical energy and where our body is in space that feels really important to me.

Investing in This Experiment and Evolving the Model

The first phase of the four-day workweek pilot will end in September, when the team will discuss any adjustments for phase two, which will stretch to the end of the year.

“Our plan is to find ways to evolve this model to have it work for us,” Kate says. “We don’t want to revert to a 40-hour week, as we don’t think that will solve the problem either.”

As Jen says, “Collectively, we are investing in this experiment because we really deeply believe that the best work comes from joy and fulfillment and a place of rest, renewal, and replenishment.”

We’ll be excited to share what we learn as we go.

This article was originally published at https://integratedwork.com. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Integrated Work Pilots a Four-Day Workweek was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A KOAN Case Study on the Changemaking Power of Connection

This article includes excerpts from the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, the recently released book by Integrated Work owner and CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson.

As we recognize Earth Month and celebrate our planet that provides for all of us, we also must acknowledge how our actions — as individuals, communities, and nations — are placing its future at risk. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless in the face of the climate crisis, but each of us can take action, speak up for change, and connect with others to spark innovative solutions that help protect the Earth.

The real magic of possibility begins to happen when we create networks of relationship. As artificial silos begin to fall, we remember that we’re not in “it” alone, and we begin to discover all manner of new, creative ideas and solutions. On the one hand, cultivating networks is well-served by having tended to the other KOAN elements. Relationships flourish inside containers of care where transparency and trust are the norm and where we cultivate presence instead of getting caught up in stories. One might argue that this is really an outgrowth of all the others. On the other hand, if we wait until we’ve gotten all of those other bits “just right” to relate to networks as the source of innovation and co-creation, we’re still operating from a top-down, do-it-yourself mindset.

A network mindset is really the cornerstone of the KOAN method. If we want to get to the finish line first or find ourselves at the top of a hierarchical heap (until we get toppled), there are other approaches that will get us there faster. For problems that require collective problem-solving or that will benefit from a broader set of viewpoints, though, remembering our connectedness makes it easier to be kind, open, and adaptive. When we begin with empathy, give and receive openly, and cultivate resilience and agility, we realize that we don’t do anything in isolation. We think of ourselves less as an entity (company, organization, team, community) and more as embedded in networks of mutuality.

The Carbon Almanac Project: Filling the Niche Between the Cutting Edge and Apathy

Seth Godin has been an author and blogger for decades, with hundreds of thousands of social media followers and subscribers to his daily newsletter, “Seth’s Blog.” In October 2021, Seth put out a call for readers who might be interested in working on a project idea he had to pull “together a worldwide team of people who are interested in volunteering to contribute to the new Carbon Almanac.” He told his mailing list (a network whose trust and respect he’d cultivated over decades) that this would be a “zero-profit venture, a group effort designed to create a print and digital document that fills the vital niche between the cutting edge and apathy.” At the time, 40 people from 20 countries that he’d hand-picked to seed the community were already at work on early pieces of the project. Anyone interested in the effort could fill out a form and Seth would connect with them.

I raised my hand because that’s what I do and because this seemed like a way to contribute to a cause I already cared about, to connect with people from all over the world who cared about it too, and to work together in a way that seemed sure to push the envelope on co-creative collaboration. I filled out the form, saying I was in, and, if selected, that I’d bring members of my team along, too — believing we would all have something to contribute and a whole lot to learn.

A month later, I was excited to see the subject line: “Joining the Carbon Almanac Project” in my inbox. The invitation to join read, in part:

More than 500 submissions from 25 countries. An author from the Middle East, a scientist from Nigeria, a TV journalist from New York … the one thing you all have in common is a desire to make an impact on a challenge faced by all of us.

It wasn’t easy to narrow down the list by more than 90%, but there you go.

I’d love to have you join us. We’ve been busy building the Almanac in smaller groups so that we won’t overwhelm everyone with too many folks joining in at once, but we’re ready for you now, and we need your help.

Over the next several months, more than 300 of us from 41 countries researched, curated, compiled, drafted, edited, fact-checked, illustrated, and assembled The Carbon Almanac, which became a bestseller in its genre even before it launched and earned the 2022 award for Most Insightful Data Book. Once the book was assembled, we opened up the network again and have since drawn in thousands of people from more than a hundred countries, organizing ourselves around a core belief that “it’s not too late” to address climate change if we lean into facts, connection, and action.

All of this was accomplished without any single official leader. Each of us stepped forward in different ways, as we were able, with the talents we could bring to bear on a joint challenge. A FastCompany article summarized the leadership like this: “Decisions and choices are made, but communication hinges on encouragement, trust, and mutual respect. It allows the group to be nimble — if something doesn’t work, the group can adapt quickly and move to the next thing.” Networks are fundamentally better at solving system-scale problems than individuals or organizations that see themselves as more discrete or isolated.

The Value of Collaborating in Networks to Create Innovative Solutions

During our KOAN Conversation last fall on the value of collaborating in networks, Seth highlighted the unique nature of the Carbon Almanac and how it helps individuals see the collective role they can play by tapping into networks to rethink systems and processes. “What we actually get to do is change the system. Part of the magic of [the KOAN method] is it’s a systems book,” Seth said. “It’s about how do we create a system where we can be generative and healing?”

Finding power in collaboration with others is especially important when our current social and environmental challenges are revealing the limitations of current systems and processes. As the global community becomes more connected through technology, we’re more likely to encounter people with lifestyles and beliefs that differ from our own, Seth said. “We bump into people who are different than us, and we try to create communities that aren’t homogenous,” he said.

It is the power of networks like the Carbon Almanac and the ability to leverage differences in service of the common good that makes them effective. “Systems change isn’t simply you deciding to compost,” Seth said. “What really matters is that you’re organizing composting for your village. … If we really care about where things are going, we have to change the system.”

Discover more about the power of networks to leverage differences in service of the common good in Jen’s book, the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, and these related articles:

• The Value of Collaborating in Networks to Create Innovative Solutions
• Nurturing Networks of Relationship by Embracing Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
• How a Supportive Network Can Drive Creative New Solutions

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Networks to the Rescue: It’s Not Too Late to Protect the Earth’s Future was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

By Jennifer Lyn Simpson, Integrated Work CEO

At a time when our world can feel increasingly fragmented, the moments that remind us that we’re all in this together are refreshing. That was the resounding message I took away from the recent Certified B Corporation Champions Retreat in Vancouver. Gathered alongside hundreds of purpose-driven business leaders, I could palpably feel the power of community. It was clear that we have the talent, technology, and drive to partner with each other and with our planet to shape a more sustainable, equitable future of work.

The very act of convening felt restorative after years of virtual-only meetings. As I looked around the room at peers driven by a shared commitment to human-first leadership and using business as a force for good, I was struck by the energy and sense of possibility. Here at Integrated Work, we imagine a future where we get more great things done together not by working harder and longer, but by operating from a foundation of well-being that allows us to be more resourced, brave, and creative. That spirit was palpable throughout the retreat.

At the CEO forum, we explored the importance of “listening to lead” — recognizing that none of us has all the answers, but that together we can explore and shape better ways of doing business. B Corp leaders discussed bold experiments with innovative ownership models, flexible benefits, and even four-day work weeks that support employee engagement and well-being.

Younger leaders shared their fierce commitment to building a resilient climate future, while elders discussed giving back through encore careers devoted to community impact.

The power of inclusion was reinforced in powerful plenary sessions highlighting the need to adopt a broader societal lens. We can no longer think of “work” as separate from the communities we’re part of or the natural environments our organizations impact and rely upon. From holistic well-being — mental, physical, and financial — to deeper connection with nature, the greatest breakthroughs will come when we start operating from an integrated, ecological perspective.

In regional breakouts, we had the chance to introduce our own organizational challenges, identify common threads, and explore opportunities for collaboration. Throughout, it became clear that even as we work to solve distinct problems, we are stronger together — in our individual workplaces and as a community of businesses trying to be a force for good.

The role of community extended beyond the formal program as well. One evening, we gathered and played amidst the natural splendor of Grouse Mountain, reconnecting with the sense of awe and humility that nature and child-like wonder can instill. On another day, we ventured out for service projects benefiting Vancouver-area nonprofits — a tangible reminder of our responsibility to the diverse communities that businesses are embedded within.

As I returned home, I was reminded that the grandest visions and boldest innovations are born through mutual trust, brave vulnerability, and an abundance mindset. When we have the courage to come together and truly listen to each other’s struggles, we begin to weave a fabric of care that makes room for creativity to flourish. The path ahead will never be easy, but the B Corp Champions Retreat filled me with hope that a fundamentally better way of working is possible when we lean into the power of community.

This article was originally published at https://integratedwork.com. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Working Well, Together: Lessons from the B Corp Champions Retreat was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This article is excerpted from the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World, the recently released book by Integrated Work owner and CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson.

As an organization of individuals who seek to contribute to a better future, the team at Integrated Work is proud to be part of the Certified B Corporation community. We joined the B Corp community in 2023 to connect with other purpose-minded leaders using business as a force for good. While that looks different for each company, B Corps share a belief that the economy can be shifted to better serve people and our planet.

The scale of that change can feel daunting. But for anyone inspired by the possibility of a new way, the good news is that B Corps are among those already leading the way and charting new possibilities.

The B Corp community first took shape in 2006. That’s when B Lab, the nonprofit organization that oversees B Corp Certification, was founded by a group of friends who, after achieving “success” by traditional measures and selling their startup to a larger conglomerate, wanted to create a vehicle to certify and hold companies publicly accountable for the ways they “benefitted workers, communities, the environment, and customers.” They believed that one of the biggest ways in which systems are stuck is in the primacy placed on shareholder returns in many large companies. This drive to achieve a particular kind of profitability on very short timescales virtually demands short-term maneuvering at the expense of more thoughtful or holistic solutions that might be of greater benefit to the common good in the long term.

Since then, thousands of companies have become B Corps all over the world — amending their operating agreements to place people and the planet, alongside profit, as a business driver and creating conditions for leaders and organizations of all kinds to reimagine how to build systems that create positive impacts to that triple bottom line. As the network has grown, so has the potential for impact.

Being a B Corp is more than just a seal of approval; it’s a signal to employees, customers, and potential partners of all kinds that one is committed to walking the talk. It’s also a membership in a growing community of like-minded leaders who are all actively reimagining everything from supply chains to employee benefits to organizing models every day.

It’s a crucible of innovation for reimagining the future of work.

Patagonia Redefines Corporate Purpose and Environmental Stewardship as a B Corp

While there are lots of B Corps of all sizes, those who are bigger and more well-known are also leveraging the platform to push the creative envelope even further.

Patagonia is one extreme example of what is possible when we throw out the old playbook and adopt an anything-is-possible stance. Founder and longtime CEO Yvon Chouinard was long fond of saying that he never intended to be a businessman, having gotten his start making climbing gear for himself and his friends in a workshop. From its earliest days, the company stood out for nontraditional work practices like encouraging staff to drop work when the surf was up and treating work like play.

Over the years, as the climate impacts on the natural environment that Patagonia employees and customers most loved to play in became more and more apparent, they centered their purpose on saving our home planet by donating 1% of all proceeds to charitable causes and becoming both a certified B Corp and a California benefit corporation. Then, in 2022, Chouinard went even further by declaring that “the Earth is now our only shareholder” and donating 100% of the company’s voting stock to the newly founded Patagonia Purpose Trust, while all nonvoting stock was given to the Holdfast Collective, “a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature.”

In making this announcement, Chouinard declared “Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.”

Integrated Work and Partners Embrace Diversity, Collaboration, and Innovation for a Better Future

Every day there are new examples of breakthrough leaders looking beyond the divisions we’ve taken for granted for too long to imagine new ways of leading and organizing.

At Integrated Work, we’ve been experimenting with the KOAN method for several years now, taking the best of what we have each learned from successes and setbacks both here and in all of the other places our talented and diverse team have worked at, led, and contributed to over the years.

We’ve partnered with clients to help them reimagine new futures and learned from their ingenuity along the way. Every day we experience ways in which old impulses to divide, segment, and silo interfere with the future we are trying to build and help hold one another to account for not staying stuck there long.

As we look at how to continue evolving our organizations to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world, we invite other mission-driven leaders to join us in building a more inclusive world where human-first principles and a commitment to transparency and curiosity fuel our ability to amplify our impact, together.

Read more about Integrated Work’s purpose-driven approach to impact.

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

A KOAN Case Study: B Corp Community Leads the Way Toward Better Business was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Highlights from a KOAN Conversation on Leadership in Disruptive Times

In an era when technology, societal events, and other factors are changing rapidly and disrupting workplace norms, many leaders struggle to build connections to best support their team members. The lack of cohesion harms economic outcomes, limits innovation, and leaves many workers feeling undervalued.

During a recent KOAN Conversation on “How to Lead When Everything Is Broken,” Integrated Work CEO Jennifer Lyn Simpson and workplace innovator Sophie Wade explored how a human-centered approach based in empathy can guide leaders as they build more resilient businesses. The conversation is the latest in a series of articles and webinars that highlight concepts in Jen’s book, the KOAN method: Breakthrough Leadership for a Divided World. Both have authored books to help leaders navigate change through a human-centered approach.

“The future of work has arrived, and it has created a very different environment,” Wade said. “We’re working in different ways, and we need to be more focused on how to understand each other. When we’re dealing with incredibly different and often challenging and unpredictable circumstances, that human connection and understanding become that much more important.”

Nowhere was this more apparent than at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted many workplaces. Millions of people suddenly were working from home, amid their families and a global pandemic, and the demarcation between personal and professional life became fuzzy. While some workers have since returned to the office or adopted hybrid schedules, many of us still feel unsettled and uncertain.

“We’re back to business as usual, but it’s not,” Wade said. “We can’t get back into a normal rhythm or something we’re comfortable with because of ongoing change. … This overall situation, where we don’t have these trust-based, empathetic relationships, is not helping us get to a better place again and really put all of that trauma behind us.”

Creating a Trust-Based Workplace That Fosters Connections and Understanding

All leaders must navigate uncertainty at some point, Simpson said, but recent years have been especially tumultuous. The concepts she outlines in the KOAN method encourage leaders to ask different kinds of questions and create containers of care to shape conversations centered in empathy.

Before an important meeting or conversation, Simpson said she uses an empathy audit that helps her see the concerns and cares of the individuals involved — “the things their hopes and dreams rely on.” That helps her be mindful of others’ actions and perspectives and often leads to more productive and creative conversations. “If I’ve taken the time to get connected to their world in that way, I can engage with them,” Simpson said.

By prioritizing empathy, leaders can create a trust-based workplace that fosters connections and understanding among team members, she said. “It’s not about taking on everything everyone on your team is feeling, but starting from an awareness that everyone has feelings,” she said. “Connecting to you as a human and being in relationship with you … gives us a better chance of solving those sticky issues.”

Making Space for More Voices and Perspectives in Organizational Decisions

Valuing team members as individuals can also help leaders connect with workers of varied ages, which Wade said often influences their workplace approach. “Digital natives, like Gen Z, have a different relationship — a familiarity, comfort — with exploring what they can do with technology,” she said. “Technology changes people’s approaches to how we’re working and where we’re working.”

As leaders and teams navigate this transformative period with emerging technologies, it’s important that colleagues of all ages are involved in company decisions. When leaders create atmospheres where team members feel welcome to share their experiences and knowledge, they also are more likely to be open to different ideas and perspectives. “It’s critical to lean into these human connections,” Wade said. “Corporate culture needs to be helping enable people to feel safe, to feel a sense of belonging so that they can speak up.”

Watch the full conversation:

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Building Resilient Businesses Through Empathy was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

JEDI Journey Cards Offer a Pathway to Personal and Professional Growth

By Trent Norman & the Integrated Work JEDI Team

Justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) are complex topics — and many of us are unsure how to explore and learn more about them, especially in a workplace environment. As JEDI consultants who work with teams, we know these topics take time to explore and have no easy solutions. (If they did, would we still be talking about this?)

Our team created the JEDI Journey cards because we have a process to help people stay engaged in the work to create a more inclusive and equitable future.

We realize there’s a wealth of information available about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, but finding approachable resources can be a challenge. The JEDI Journey cards are designed as an accessible tool that can be used in a variety of settings — staff meetings, silent reflection, family gatherings, ice-breakers, and more. Each card helps people examine their experience(s) with justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and explore how that influences them every day.

The JEDI Journey cards represent an opportunity as well as a direction to explore the topics in a meaningful and powerful manner. We designed them to help all of us:

• Stretch our understanding and knowledge as we engage with the JEDI topics at deeper levels beyond an interesting cognitive exercise.
• Start a practice of discussion and exploration with others.
• Engage more often with the topics of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The cards mirror the Integrated Work team’s philosophy about JEDI work: Growth and change occur when people explore the topics — alone and in groups — with curiosity and a human-first spirit. Including “journey” in the name of the cards reinforces that this is an ongoing process. To borrow from the Bard and nudge the saying a bit: “The journey is the thing!”

Prompts, Questions, and Reflections to Advance Each JEDI Journey

Now that I’ve shared the reasons behind the JEDI Journey cards, let’s take a closer look at using them.

The 65-card deck includes three types of cards:

• Identity cards that encourage people to explore the characteristics that help define their sense of self.
• Definition cards that provide background and knowledge to inform discussions.
• Discussion cards for each topic — justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion — that provide questions, reflections, and prompts.

Instead of seeking to provide “the” definition of a topic, the cards offer an example, encourage exploration of other definitions, and invite the user to make meaning of the definition(s) that resonate with them. Rather than provide a formula — “do X when Y happens” — the cards encourage people to explore a variety of skills and actions that could be useful in different situations.

Join My JEDI Journey Card Exercise: Age, Access, and Inclusive Spaces

For this exercise, I selected the Age, Access, and Imagining an Inclusive Space cards. Because age is the general theme based on the first card, I will consider ageism as I answer each question. There are many ways to define ageism, and identifying a definition can be a part of the exercise. For this purpose, I will think about the loose definition that ageism is discrimination based on age/years of experience (in a job, on the planet, etc.).

From the Age card, I chose the prompt: “Describe how you think about your age/generation.”

Unlike some other parts of my identity, my age shifts each year. As I’ve grown older, I mark the shifts by a single year rather than in larger chunks, not unlike when I was very young. When I was in my 20s and 30s, those felt like “decades” — large chunks of time. Time seemed like a commodity with large resources. As I’ve aged, that has felt less true. No real surprise: As mortality has an ever-approaching due date, my orientation to my age has altered my vision in a way. Now each year feels more like a mile marker with a scenic overview and less like a blip in the longer journey of life.

From the Access card, I chose the prompt: “If you look at your organization, who appears to have more or less access to leadership?”

To answer this question, I’m going to choose my part-time role as a ski instructor at one of the big ski resort companies. My role is specialized: teach you how to make the skis go right and left down the hill in control. My exposure to other parts of the organization is fairly limited to interpersonal interactions with other employees: food services when I grab lunch, lift operations, and transportation when I’m on the bus. There are others, but that is the bulk of it.

The ski industry thrives on new blood but is founded on tradition. Relationships are important, and the business model of the large organization that owns several ski resort areas (including the one where I work) tends to have a cloistered set of executives, often one executive moving from one location to the next. From my position, it appears that the people in those top positions range from 40 to 60 years old — consistently.

Getting to that level requires that individuals spend time at the many resorts learning the management end of the business until they are ready to break into the executive realm. It appears that few people from different age ranges are represented in top leadership. Despite being a business run by younger people on the surface, the power and decision-making reside with an older set of people.

From the Imagining an Inclusive Space card, I chose the prompt: “Describe what an inclusive workspace looks like.”

This card encourages me to imagine an inclusive workspace with age as a filter. Going back to my ski resort example, a place inclusive of age can have a lot of different meanings. At the executive level, a space inclusive of age could look interesting. The organization has a typical business structure: President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operations Officer, etc. Because this is a large, multi-facility organization, being inclusive of age at that level might be challenging.

I will not begrudge the organization’s tactic of nurturing top executives with a variety of experiences; indeed, I believe it helps keep their product somewhat consistent. But that consistency may also present challenges. You can be guaranteed that nothing too radical will impact the organization, as the people in charge have vast and extensive knowledge of the way it runs. The enthusiasm, new views, and vigor of youth may not have the same influence that it might at an organization with a more age-porous orientation — like a technology startup, for example.

One method to shift ski industry culture would be to include an apprentice program for newer employees. Spending six months to a year in a specially designed executive (in training) position might allow someone to gain a different insight into the organization’s operations, allow them to have more significant influence sooner, and increase the pathway for long-term employment. (In addition to the youth movement at the lower levels, there’s also a bit of exodus at those same levels.) This mentor program should be designed to increase the flow of ideas and energy in all directions, fostering a culture of mutual learning across the mentor relationship.

Reflections from My JEDI Journey Card Exercise

I appreciate how the cards encourage us to think at deeper levels and reinforce a human-first mindset — a concept central to how we operate at Integrated Work. With that perspective, I see how age presents an interesting challenge in examining an organization. When I worked at a land-grant university, the age barrier was much more pronounced and much less porous. The age conversation there would be very different than with a large, multinational organization or a technology startup. How many university chancellors and presidents are in their late 20s? How many technology startups have a CTO that is ready to retire? The story my brain tells me is that it is not many in either case — probably zero in the former — and yet the cards prompted me to think about age.

Another interesting discovery from this prompt is that I recognize the implications of making wholesale changes to how organizations are structured. The example of how to affect the age balance among executives at the large ski resort organization comes with its own set of issues. People “earn” the right to be in those executive positions, and that has meaning. Likewise, the freshness of youth in an industry that relies on younger workers to keep the operations going also has meaning. Chloe Kim and Mikaela Shiffrin might be better-known household names now than Ingemar Stenmark, Ron LeMaster, or even Hank Kashiwa — yet all of them have affected the industry. I think the challenge is in finding balance. For the ski industry, one could not exist without the other.

JEDI Journey Cards Can Help Us Navigate Differences and Move Toward a Better Future

As you can see from this example, each of our answers and thoughts for prompts and questions will be different. Those differences are part of our JEDI journeys, as each of us travels a unique road through our life experiences and relationships with others.

At Integrated Work, we believe the actions of individuals committed to change can help us move forward on a path of healing and reconciliation that includes accountability, access, representation, and grace. With the JEDI Journey cards, we invite you to join others in noticing and appreciating our differences as we continue to learn and discover on the pathway toward a more inclusive and equitable future.

This article was originally published by Integrated Work. B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.

Prompts, Questions, and Reflections to Move Toward a More Inclusive, Equitable Future was originally published in B The Change on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.