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LEARNING CENTER

Long before Covid-19 upended the daily routines of our work lives, businesses were already reevaluating long-established rules of how, when and where we work. The pandemic’s arrival poured accelerant on some of these work trends and forced others to pause. The aftermath underscores just how much the world of work is shifting.

Traditional 9-to-5 employment has undergone a shakeup with the rise of the gig economy and the pandemic-spurred demand for food delivery services like Postmates and Instacart. To make office life more appealing, talent-chasing companies introduced trendy downtown spaces with vast, open floorplans, often tossing in perks like bars, fitness centers and flexible work options like unlimited vacation.

Businesses in virtually every sector of the workforce also tapped into a different kind of talent: automation. In restaurants, robots precisely prepare hamburger patties, sushi and coffee; chatbots “man” desks and phone lines; and complex algorithms scour hundreds of job applicants in minutes to pluck out qualified candidates.

Post-pandemic, it’s unclear which industries will return to the status quo. In a recent KPMG survey of CEOs at companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue, 1 in 5 said business is changed forever. Stubborn inflation, continued supply issues, increased fuel costs and high interest rates have put new pressures on companies and workers alike.

When the dust settles economically, where does this leave workers, professional and low-wage?  Can women reestablish themselves in the workforce following COVID-ear departures? Will the entrepreneurial fire lit during the pandemic continue, and is there a new generational divide in approaching work? How will employers and employees have to reevaluate their approach to each other?

REGENCY V

The philanthropic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the social justice reckoning following the murder of George Floyd, the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and multiple natural disasters here at home has shown the sector at its best. From the launch of community-based rapid response funds to the development of vaccines, philanthropy is showing up both to help flatten the curve in the short term and to address the inequities exacerbated by these crises in the long-term.

Confronted by the mammoth challenges of the past few years, individual and institutional giving has been responsive, engaged and flexible, accelerating thinking and changes to the sector that had already been percolating. What’s striking is not only the scale of capital being committed by companies, private donors and governments alike, but also how it is being deployed: at record speed, with fewer conditions and in greater collaboration with others.

The challenge – and opportunity – for the sector will be to make these features stick. The gravitational pull back to traditional ways of working will be strong, especially as donors grapple with the effects of economic downturn.

Has giving changed forever? What were some breakthroughs or innovations from the past few that proved effective, particularly ones that may have seemed risky? What is the role of the private sector moving forward? Should governments play a bigger role, smaller one or different one? What can recipient organizations do to better maximize funding and increase results?

REGENCY VI

Companies across all industries are beginning to recognize the business value of purpose and are making strong purpose-driven commitments and strategic shifts to differentiate themselves in the market.  In fact, purpose strategy is increasingly a business imperative to manage risk; build trust with customers, investors, and other stakeholders; and develop new markets. Backed by strategic investment in the core of the business, including in the systems that enable the company to consistently deliver on its purpose, it can also be a source of competitive advantage.

In 2019, the Business Roundtable released a redefined Statement of Purpose of a Corporation, which declared that companies should serve not only their stakeholders, but deliver values to their customers, employees and communities in which they operate. This upended the decades-long adherence to Milton Friedman’s doctrine that an entity’s greatest responsibility lies in satisfying the shareholders – shareholder primacy. This statement by the Business Roundtable coincided with a new generation of CEO’s taking the helm of legacy companies, a social justice reckoning post-George Floyd and younger generations aligning purchasing decisions to a company’s values. But this thinking is by no means universal, and a new anti-woke, anti-ESG movement has taken hold as a counterbalance.

While a good theory, in practice is there an inherent trade-off between purpose and profit; values and value? Can integrated purpose and clearly defined values drive sustainable, long-term value for the company? How can leaders and organizations integrate values into interactions with customers, workforce and suppliers?

REGENCY VII

Much of the 20^th century provided a period of fading distinctions, following the ruptures of the Civil War, post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow. A growing separation has now taken hold across America, once again built upon the bedrock differences dating back to our country’s founding.

 Multiple social, cultural and religious factors are converging to create a particularly toxic political stew. America is being pulled apart. This phenomenon is geographic, ideological and spiritual. Americans are increasingly clustering in like-minded communities, and surrounding ourselves with people who think like we do has a profound effect. When like-minded people gather, they tend to grow more extreme.

 Has political affiliation become the new cultural identifier? Have identity movements strengthened or hurt our ability to find commonalities? How can we find ways to strengthen our oneness, without sacrificing our unique cultures, identities and regions?