About the Book
Dan Pink, best-selling author of DRIVE wrote: "WORK THE FUTURE! TODAY is an ebullient paean to the power of story. What we need is a new story based on purpose, not on profit. With a mind toward sustaining the planet rather than just amassing money, this book guides you to finding and aligning your purpose, passion, and goals to create that new life-embracing story for yourself, your organization, and the world."
WORK THE FUTURE! TODAY, an Amazon #1 New Release, is about the old story of Profit First coming to an end and it must be replaced by the new story of Purpose First if we are to prosper. The old triple bottom line of profit, people, planet is transitioning into the new bottom line of planet, people, profit. Why? It's very simple--no planet, no people. And no people, no profit. As there is no time like now, we provide 3 sequential steps to follow your path into the new story and to achieve this transition successfully:
1. Purpose--the why of our lives and the unique gifts we have to offer.
2. Place--with whom and where to best share those gifts.
3. Practice--how and when to best share those gifts.
- Our book provides leaders and readers with a pathway to accomplish these things in life, in the workplace, and in their communities.
- We help readers to heal the past, release the future, and create harmony in the present.
- Our book is short enough to read it flying from coast to coast with enough time left for a nap. It was designed so you can experience it on various levels with its simple graphics, powerful quotes, a detailed Table of Contents, and succinct chapter summaries. And the book is filled with tips and tools that you can use, now.
- WHY are we launching this book now? Because Humankind finds itself at a fundamental, evolutionary change point. We stand at the edge of a chasm of social change greater than what we have seen in the agricultural, industrial, and technology revolutions combined. We are entering a chasm of chaos, complexity, and confusion. What used to anchor us and keep us grounded is fading. Trust in our social institutions is at an all-time low and anxiety at an all-time high. All the 'rules' about status, power, and politics no longer hold for most people.
- AND just why is it that you should be interested in reading WORK THE FUTURE! TODAY?
1. To minimize the risks you take by investing precious time, money, and energy in planning for the future. We all make mistakes and plan for the wrong scenarios. WORK THE FUTURE! TODAY is a structured method to investigate different courses of action, develop contingencies, and have in place a system to recognize and act upon a wide range of 'weak signals' such as demographic migrations or government regulatory changes. These are harbingers of what we can sense about changing events and social dynamics.
2. We think shifting your perspective, your worldview, helps you get a more grounded perspective. You move from being totally reactive to events around you to a stance where you are in control. With that sense of control comes a heightened sense of well-being and relaxation. Being in the moment reduces your tendency to act from an almost totally reptilian motivation to a calm, reasoned, and thought out stance.
3. Our suggested viewpoint and action platform will give you greater resilience to change because you will have consciously constructed a wider range of interconnections with others and resources. Your search time for answers will decrease; the breath of your knowledge will increase; you have a stronger trust bond with others, and you will have your own finely tuned 'future radar screen' to use today and well into the future.
Visit our website for more information and resources: workthefuture.today
About the Author :
SUMMARY Whitney has a world of experience having lived, studied, and worked in Asia, Europe, and America. He is CEO of Brand New Purpose, a brand transformation consultancy that creates purpose-built, values-driven opportunities. Whitney is also a consulting Chief Marketing Officer and change agent for Fortune 20 companies and pivotal Silicon Valley startups guiding over $20 billion and counting worth of M&A, IPOs, sales, and launches. He graduated with a M.A. in Social Change from Graduate Theological Union and with a B.F.A. from Parsons School of Design. His expertise on the Future of Work has been featured in four books, including a bestseller by Dan Pink. Follow him at @brandguru on Twitter. WORLD OF EXPERIENCE Whitney is half-Dutch and half-Dutch American (double Dutch). He has a world of experience having lived, studied, and worked globally--New York, Tokyo, The Hague, London, Los Angeles, and Mumbai. He currently lives in Berkeley and the Wine Country with his wife and cat. He is the proud father of two bright and beautiful daughters. Whitney's Dutch mother, grandmother, and great-grandfather are all collected painters, and he continues the family tradition and has exhibited around the world. As an author, artist, and change agent, Whitney believes in the importance of both showing and telling in his books, work, and life. ALICE IN WONDERLAND His father worked for Pan American Airways (Pan Am), which took Whitney around the world from ages six to twenty, including a transformative year in Tokyo. At that time, he was a 6 year old from the New York suburbs who couldn't contemplate living in another land. But, like a dream, there he was, in a paper house, with a traditional Japanese garden, overlooking spectacular downtown Tokyo. It was as if he was Alice and Japan was Wonderland. He has never forgotten that moment of his life when he realized Japan was his new home and life was never the same. Whitney has been looking down rabbit holes and asking "Why?" ever since. BRAND NEW WORLD Whitney is co-founder of Work The Future! Today, a pathfinding group that practices the art of the possible, well in advance, and co-founder of Brand New Purpose, a brand transformation consultancy that creates purpose-built, values-driven opportunities. CHANGE AGENT He is also an interim Chief Marketing Officer and forward-facing change agent for Fortune 20 companies and game changing Silicon Valley startups. Whitney graduated with a M.A. in Social Change from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley with a thesis on Community Building, and with a B.F.A. in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design in New York City. FUTURE... OF WORK His expertise on the Future of Work has been featured in four books, including a bestseller by Dan Pink. Whitney's next book is titled "Second Act: Creating a meaningful middle age and beyond", which will be coming out in 2018. You can find him at @brandguru and WTF! at @workfuturenow on Twitter. The WTF! site is www.workthefuture.today QUESTION FOR YOU: Are you going to CREATE your future, or, are you going to let the future CONTROL you? Your choice. SUMMARY Dr. Charles Grantham, Co-Pathfinder, has a rich multi-disciplinary background, and pursues his passion for helping leaders, organizations, and communities realize their true potential for effective performance, governance, and sustainability. After serving in the Special Forces-no, he can't tell you about it-he enjoyed successful careers in academia and with multi-national technology companies as an Executive Director of R&D. Charlie received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Maryland. He has published nine books and several dozen technical papers. His last book was "ForeSight 2025," a practical guide on how to navigate the change process to prosper in the coming decade. Charlie actually worked with the original prototypes for Dilbert and the Gang... yes, all true! INTERVIEW Why do I do this? It is a calling-one to help people awaken to a greater sense of wholeness and possibility. What do I do? I work with leaders, organizations, and communities to define their intention, create inspiration, catalyze inventions, apply those innovations, continuously improve them through iteration, co-create personal and organizational transformations, and ultimately Work The Future! Today. How do I do it? Through teaching of structured thinking, scenario design, purpose, and the nature of being through discovery. This can take the form of personal coaching, guided small groups, and large world café workshops. What is it like to work with me? - "Working with a cross of Peter Drucker and the Dali Lama." Rebecca, Public Sector Services - "A Zen-like learning journe." Diane, Healthcare - "He's always there when you need him. A just-in-time mentor." Cynthia, Financial Services My clients? - Fortune 250 Companies in financial services, real estate, technology, health care, and energy. - Academia: University of California at San Francisco, Berkeley, and Los Angeles; University of Maryland, Capella and North Central Universities. - Public Sector: States of California, Maryland, Kansas, and New Mexico; GSA, Dept. of Labor, and Dept. of Defense. - International: Sweden, Austria, and Columbia. Why is this valuable and unique? Because my work helps you clarify the unknown and undiscovered. It is unique because each engagement is distinctive in its design and delivery. My work is built upon decades of experience and learning across a wide range of cultures and experiences. What are two of my top two client impacts? - In the private sector, an end-to-end total work re-design and change management program, which earned the client a 40% return on investment. - In the public sector, the creation, design, and development of the Business Community Center concept, which was implemented in Austria, Sweden, and the mid-west US.
Review :
"Work The Future! Today is an ebullient paean to the power of story. What we need, the authors preach, is a new story based on purpose, not on profit. With a mind toward sustaining the planet rather than just amassing money, this book guides you to finding and aligning your purpose, passion, and goals to create that new life-embracing story foryourself, your organization, and the world."
Daniel H. Pink, Best-selling Author of DRIVE
"This is an amazing book--I'll watch for Charlie and Whitney on Good Morning America since this is going to catch on fire. This book offers the next chapter for aligning purpose and life goals in a new and visionary way. Finally, a way to articulate why all the material success often feels empty. This book hits its stride for many of us searching alignment of core beliefs with the "what's next" discussion."
Sharon Klun, former Manager, Work/Life/Wellness Initiatives, Accenture, and Global Work/Life Initiatives, American Express
"Work The Future! Today captures the essence of the evolutionary shift underway in business from a limited purpose of maximizing profit for shareholders to a broader purpose of creating public benefit. This book explains why the purpose driven business movement as expressed by Benefit Corporations, Certified B Corporations and the Conscious Capitalism movement is so compelling and powerful."
John Montgomery, Founder of Lex Ultima, and Author of Great From the Start: How Conscious Corporations Attract Success
"With their call to action for a better future, Whitney and Charlie articulate a critical need in these chaotic times, and offer a clear path to achieving it--they draw on what's clearly a wealth of experience. The result is a map to the future: a way to ensure we all know what we need to do to thrive."
Ceil Tilney, former General Manager, Imperative
"Work The Future! Today is an attention getting book that travels across our current state of seismic transition through timeless questions and the latest tools of analysis. A world that feels like it has lost its purpose is a world caught in the chasm of this seismic shift. Grantham and Vosburgh begin with personal grounding and build outward to collective renewal. I enjoy the deeply provocative questions they raise and the accessible writing and road map they provide."
Rex Miller, Futurist and Principal for mindSHIFT, and Co-author of Change Your Space: How Engaging Workplaces Lead to Transformation and Growth
"WTF! is a primer in the value of practicing old wisdom in a new world. The built environment exists, by definition, outside ourselves. But if you're engaged in transforming it--particularly the spaces and places where people live, work, and play--the authors show that if you want to be effective, you must start by renewing what's within."
Natalie Grasso, Editor, Work Design Magazine
"As always, Charlie and Whitney are one step ahead. I can still remember learning the old "four-Ps" of marketing and they stuck with me. But in hindsight, that model has a huge hole in it: purpose. It is today's currency."
Ryan Johnson, Executive Director, Executive and Professional Education, ASU Global Institute of Sustainability
