Page 37 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

15 to 44, directly and indirectly affecting employee costs.
People seem to be losing touch with their strengths as
more lives are dominated by weaknesses with a focus on
what is wrong.
2. Increased concern for environmental demands, social
responsibility, organization purpose, and individual
motivation. Scholars estimate that humans currently
consume 30 percent more resources than the earth can
produce. Between 1961 and 2006, human demand
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on the biosphere more than doubled. These demands
threaten habitats, air quality, and climate stability. For
example, between 1961 and 2001, the consumption of
fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) increased by almost 700 per-
cent. At present rates of consumption, we could run out
of these fuels in the next 25 years. In part because of
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their poor handling of environmental concerns, many
social institutions face waning stakeholder respect.
Institutional cynicism runs high in political, business,
educational, and religious settings. People distrust
organizations they believe do little to protect the earth or
serve its poorest inhabitants. More than three-quarters
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(79 percent) of the world’s most admired companies
have seen their reputation decline in recent years.
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Eroding corporate reputation, increased institutional
cynicism, and poor records on environmental responsi-
bility underlie this loss, alienating many high-potential
employees.
3. Increased complexity of work. Technology, globaliza-
tion, and demographics all add to the complexity of the
workplace. With technological advances, the half-life
of knowledge has shortened. The Internet has newly
become the standard source of information, with 60

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