The way we work is due for an overhaul.

Not just an update or technological hack. I’m talking about a full reboot of the way we think about our jobs, integrate them into our lives and fashion our daily routines. 

This topic has been debated and editorialized to the point of fatigue. The changing workforce has been subject to a barrage of speculation from the most qualified thinkers on the planet and I won’t pretend to be an expert on remote working, parental leave or ‘leaning in’. 

In fact, the reason for my thoughts here is less of an answer and more of a hunch. It’s this feeling I get every time I look at companies like The Giving Keys, Krochet Kids or Rose & Fitzgerald who let impact lead their work. It’s the feeling I get when I see social focused startups taking on giants of industry. It’s the feeling that the rule breakers might just be the ones who find the future first. 

Every day we interact with brands who are changing the way they source products, hire talent and measure success.

They are defying reason and succeeding anyway. I find myself asking the question, how can the companies who are giving their profits to families across the world and promoting causes that don’t benefit their bottom line possibly lead us into a modern age of company culture? How can startups achieve what conglomerates have failed figure out?

But then I ask myself, aren’t these the questions that have baffled analysts in every generation? Why not this group? Why not now? Who’s to say that this new generation of social enterprises couldn’t be be bold enough to imagine something totally different? 

Everyday we interact with dozens of founders, visionaries and dreamers. Each of them looking to change peoples lives in little and big ways. Their stories almost always start with humble beginnings and most of them are still writing their early chapters. At first glance you might see lack of experience, long days and unanswered questions but when you take a closer look you can rest assured that you’ll find dreams big enough to overcome uncertainty. 

What if they are the future?

What if this new breed of impact driven companies spell the overthrow of the simplified way that companies have measured success? What if forces companies to look beyond quarterly profits? To recognize a multitude of stakeholders, to rethink how marginalized groups should be welcomed in the workforce. Maybe it’s social impact companies who get to reimagine what it means to be productive and successful.   

So here’s to never lowering our standards.

Theres something poetic about small beginnings. Something that you can’t create another way and something that you’d sure as hell never bet against.

Here’s to never losing sight and never letting 100 years of “normal” define a future of possibility.