I talked with Amanda Schneider, founder of ThinkLab and author of Work for What's Next. She was also just on The Oprah Podcast talking about the book, if you want another taste of her thinking.
One thing she said has stayed with me since. We’re still running our workplaces on analog era norms, in a digital speed world. That gap, more than any single generation, is where most of the tension we feel at work actually comes from.
It changed how I think about Gen Z, too. Amanda’s research keeps landing on the same point. They’re not really asking for anything new. They just grew up with more access and more context than any generation before them, so they ask for it louder.
We also talked about what actually kills creativity inside a company. It's not a lack of tools or talent. It's fear, busyness, and certainty, in that order. Certainty is the one that worries her most, as AI gets more confident and more persuasive by the day.
One more interesting idea stayed with me that Amanda shared: the difference between a game’s goal and its purpose. The goal of Monopoly is to win. The purpose is to connect with the people you’re playing with, think strategically, and enjoy the time together. She thinks most organizations have quietly optimized for the goal and lost sight of the purpose.
We also got into why loyalty isn’t dead, just no longer blind, what Gucci’s shadow board did for their sales numbers, and what it might take to prepare the generation coming up after Gen Z for a future none of us can fully predict.
If any of this resonates, I’d love for you to watch or listen to the full conversation, and read the write-up on the blog.
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