The Great Pivot: to do Meaningful Work

The Great Pivot:

Freeing People

to do Meaningful

Work

Dan SmolenThe Green Suits, LLC

October 23, 2017

The State of

the American

Workforce

• BLS 9/2017: 4.2% rate

of unemployment

best since

11/2007…BUT

• Gallup Good Jobs

Rate remains low

44.7%

• 30-40% of workforce

in Gig Economy

• Broken ‘Social

Contract’

• 21.9% of workforce is un/underemployed (ShadowStats 9/2017)

• 1:6 men 25-54 out of work (Financial Times 9/2016)

Outsourcing +

Displacement

• 2013: 14 million jobs

moved offshore (Bureau

of Economic Analysis)

• 2013-15: 3.2 million

workers displaced, 66%

found new work (BLS)

Employee

Disengagement

• Gallup poll: only

31.5% of

employees are

engaged at work

• BLS: Median

tenure: 4.2 years,

but only 2.8 years

for 25-34 segment

Drop in Union

Representation• Economic Policy

Institute: Unionized

male workers: 34%

(1979) vs 16% (2017)

• All male worker

earnings in 2013 would

have been 5% higher

had union membership

remained at 1979 levels

The Gig Workforce

• McKinsey: 30% of US

workforce (47 million)

• A need or a choice?

Automation• PwC Study (2017)

McKinsey (7/2016): 45% of work that people do will be automated

1. Self-Transcendent

2. Poignant

3. Episodic

4. Reflective

5. Personal

Meaningful Work

Source: MIT Sloan Review, Bailey & Madden

(6/2016)

Changing Work

Motivations

LESS SO:

Money, Title, Status

MORE SO:

Challenge, Purpose, and a

Life (not consumed by work)

• Pew Research (1/2017): 92 percent of respondents describe

American Dream as Economic Stability, not Upward Mobility

• 55 percent struggle with monthly cash flow (B/E or negative);

41 percent cannot weather major emergency expense

• Broken ‘Social Contract’

The American Dream Has Changed

• Freed from quest for upward mobility, many shall seek work

to DO WELL but also DO RIGHT (Meaningful Work)

The American Dream Has Changed

The Great Pivot to

Meaningful Work

Has Begun

1. Self-Transcendent

2. Poignant

3. Episodic

4. Reflective

5. Personal

Meaningful Work

Source: MIT Sloan Review, Catherine Bailey,

PhD & Adrian Madden, PhD (6/2016)

Meaningless Work

1. Disconnects workers from their values

2. Takes workers for granted

3. Pointless

4. Unfair treatment

5. Disempowered and disenfranchised

6. Isolates, marginalizes workers

7. Physically and emotionally harmful

Source: MIT Sloan Review, Catherine Bailey,

PhD & Adrian Madden, PhD (6/2016)

• Millennials (majority of

workforce) seek purpose more

than paycheck

• Preference growing among Late

Boomers, Gen X, as well

• Plurals will pivot into meaningful

work

‘Four Gen’ Appeal

• Lowered barriers to entry for meaningful work

• More talent becoming eco-entrepreneurs

• Gig work becoming more of a choice than a

necessity

‘Four Gen’ Appeal

High-Opportunity Sectors to Scale

Economy + Create Meaningful Work• Gap Analysis: some jobs don’t need more workers

(e.g., full-time corporate sustainability managers)

• Create work in sectors with established proof-of-

concept

• Empower people with good project management skill

Sector #1: Net-Zero Energy (NZE)

and Water• Residential/commercial building retrofits

• Emergency solar micro-grids

• Water infrastructure/wastewater reclamation

• Residential/commercial building retrofits

• Emergency solar micro-grids

• Water infrastructure/wastewater reclamation

Sector #2: Mobility as a Service (MaaS)• Electric vehicles + charging infrastructure

• High-speed rail

• Commuter rail

• Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

• Pedestrian + bicycle-friendly infrastructure

• Biofuels/ hydrogen/ batteries

Sector #3: Circular Economy• Paper/plastic/metal recycling

• Tool-lending libraries

• Biomass collection/processing

• Remakeries

Sector #4: Regenerative Agriculture

and Food-Waste Mitigation

• Grow/sell more LOCAL FOOD, scale community gardens

• Establish food hubs (eliminate inner-city food deserts)

• No-till farming/carbon sequestration/soil conservation

• Market/process UGLY FOOD

• Feed needy with leftover restaurant food

Sector #5: Ecosystem Restoration

• Urban reforestation

• Wetland protection

• Pollinator programs

• Native wildlife reintroduction

• Urban reforestation

• Wetland protection

• Pollinator programs

• Native wildlife reintroduction

Meet the New

Job Creators

• Agents of the Great Pivot to Meaningful Work

• Reinventing the idea of work as a positive part of one’s daily life

• Designing and creating meaningful work role for themselves

• Financing, promoting meaningful work for others

• Helping people and planet, promoting workforce policy

• What environmental problem are you trying to solve +

what is your favorite sustainability topic?

Question #1

Question #2

• If you could start a project that would create 10 meaningful

jobs, what would it be?• Creating tool lending libraries in 5 towns

• Installing solar on low-income housing

• Doing net zero energy retrofits on commercial buildings

• Planting trees on deforested land + selling carbon sequestration services

Question #3• What are the costs of the problem you are trying to

solve + what are the benefits of your chosen project?

Mobility as a Service

Costs Benefits

Vehicle: car payments, gas, insurance,

maintenance, repairs, licensing

Save money

Productive time lost in traffic congestion More productive workforce, emotional health

Health costs from air pollution Reduce health care costs

Disruption of climate change Stable climate

Question #4

• Who are the beneficiaries + potential benefactors of

this work?

Planting Trees and Selling Carbon Sequestration Services

Beneficiaries Benefactors

Humans Fossil fuel companies

Future generations Auto manufacturers

Environment Government

Question #5• Who should fund this project, which financial instrument

would you use + what level of funding is needed?• VC, bank, government, individual company, family + friends, public

• Seed funding, grants, referendum, loan, microloan, crowdfunding

• Level of funding required to create 10 jobs

Craft a 3-Minute Pitch• What is the problem your project will solve?

• What is your proposed project?

• What are the benefits?

• How many jobs will be created?

• What is the investment + return on investment (financial,

social benefit)?

• National average Wage Index (2015): $48,100

• Employ 10% of un/underemployed (3.5 million workers) in

meaningful work opportunities

• Raise earning power of US households by over $168 billion!

Meaningful Work: A Game-Changer

• Impact on un/underemployed would be significant

• Increased life-expectancy, reduced impact on healthcare

• Reductions in criminal behavior, recidivism

Meaningful Work: A Game-Changer

Meaningful Work: A Game-Changer• We need a new ‘Social Contract’

• Benefit portability

• Stronger, reimagined stakeholder table

• And we must all become activists for positive change

The Great Pivot: Freeing People

to do Meaningful WorkA book by Justine Burt & Dan Smolen

(Summer 2018)

[email protected]

Thank you.

Photo & Image Credits

1. BizJournals.com; Galveston, Texas Lyft Driver; accessed October 22, 2017

2. Burt, Justine; Rooftop Solar Project; April 15, 2017

3. Burt, Justine; Ugly Produce; accessed May 1, 2017

4. EdinburghRemakery.co.uk; Edinburgh Remakery; accessed April 30, 2017

5. Getty Images; American Flag composite; April 30, 2017

6. Getty Images; Automation; accessed May 1, 2017

7. Getty Images; Farm Field; accessed May 1, 2017

8. Getty Images; Forest; accessed October 20, 2017

9. Getty Images; Four Millennials at a Work Table; accessed October 20, 2017

10. Getty Images; Gardeners; accessed April 29, 2017

11. Getty Images; Gig Worker on Bike; accessed April 29, 2017

12. Getty Images; High Speed Rail; accessed April 30, 2017

13. Getty Images; Job-Seeker with Robots; accessed May 1, 2017

14. Getty Images; Laid off Executive; accessed April 30, 2017

15. Getty Images; Man Behind Work Truck; accessed May 1, 2017

16. Getty Images; Man Gazing at Lower Manhattan; accessed May 3, 2017

17. Getty Images; Man Pushing Rock Up Hill; accessed October 20, 2017

18. Getty Images; Man, Woman, Young Child in Field; accessed October 20, 2017

19. Getty Images; Picketing Hotel Workers; accessed April 29, 2017

20. Getty Images; Recycled Bottles and Cans; accessed October 20, 2017

21. Getty Images; Young Latina; accessed February 12, 2016

22. Getty Images; Woman in Stress; accessed May 1, 2017

23. Getty Images; Woman with Alarm Clock; accessed October 20, 2017

24. Getty Images; Woman Woodworker; accessed May 1, 2017

25. Keefe, Bob; People’s Climate March, Washington, D.C.; April 29, 2017

26. ShadowStats.com, September 2017 Unemployment Graph, accessed October 17, 2017

27. Smolen, Dan; Honeybee/Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Composite, May 19, 2013

28. Smolen, Dan; Eagle Beach, Aruba; March, 2015

29. Smolen, Dan; Sir Richard Branson at People’s Climate March, Washington, D.C.; April 29, 2017

30. Smolen, Dan; Vader Piet Wind Farm, Aruba; March, 2015

31. USGBC.org; LEED building; accessed April 30 2017