Some consultants in the UK sent me a copy of their white paper entitled “Unleashing the Future of Work.” I’m always happy to find kindred spirits, which was immediately apparent in this case, since the first line of the paper is “It’s time to re-think management.” I found their coverage of the history of the evolution of management interesting, as they identified specific stages and tied in a number of different theories and models. And they got on my good side by covering the topic of conflict a lot in their paper, much like we do in Humanize.

I will admit that it was hard for me to get past the fact that they have trademarked the word “unleashing.” This is a pet peeve of mine. I just don’t like it when people trademark ordinary words. And some of what is in the paper is a little too jargony. I mean, I do understand that there is an important and legitimate meaning behind the phrase “synergistic co-creation,” but if you drift too far away from the language the managers are actually using, you lose them.

Check the paper out and let me know what you think.