Either/Org — From Surviving to Thriving: Creating the Future of Work
This is part of a five-part series that Either/Org will release throughout January and February.
81,396 hours.
That’s the average amount of time a person spends working in their lifetime. The only thing we spend more time doing is sleeping. If work takes up so much of our lives, we should be thriving.
But, we’re not.
A recent study found that 60% of workers worldwide are emotionally detached from their jobs, and 19% are miserable. That means nearly 80% of people are spending the majority of their lives just surviving instead of thriving. This research shows that workplaces shape our lives — often for the worse.
Now, more than ever, people need an alternative to work that drains their time, energy, and spirit.
At the same time, work is consuming the planet — its people, resources, ideas, and future — at an accelerating pace. Today’s colonialistic and capitalistic systems have normalized exploitative labor: physical, mental, social, intellectual, and creative. These structures disempower and silence marginalized people, prioritizing profits for leaders and shareholders at the expense of everything else.
How might we must reimagine work as a source of abundance?
What corrupts today’s workplaces?
Many workplaces today prioritize efficiency, control, productivity, and uniformity. These organizations tend to find that by prioritizing these values, they stifle creativity, limit innovation, and prevent individuals from reaching their full potential. They focus on measurable outcomes while neglecting relational, holistic, and community-based ways of knowing.
There are many organizations that don’t follow these values and are creating beautiful, innovative models of work. These organizations serve as inspiration for the majority of workplaces which conform to the principles below. For convenience, we will call this group “today’s workplaces.”
What are the principles of today’s workplaces?
Transactional Relationships.
Work is treated as a financial exchange where labor is valued based on output and profit, with minimal regard for personal growth or community impact.
Productivity Above All.
The focus is on doing more, faster — often at the expense of creativity, rest, and balance.
Power at the Top.
Leadership holds most decision-making power, with limited input from workers.
Individualism.
Work emphasizes individual success, promotions, and competition over collaboration and shared goals.
Extraction.
Workplaces often maximize output from people and resources without prioritizing care, fairness, or sustainability.
Invisible Labor.
Emotional support, caregiving, and cultural contributions are often unpaid and unrecognized.
Survival-Based Action.
Work is often seen as something you have to do to survive rather than something that can bring purpose, creativity, or fulfillment.
What does this work do to us?
The current landscape of work, shaped by systems of profit and control, often leaves people disconnected and burned out. Deeply rooted in capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal structures, it perpetuates the belief that labor exists primarily to fuel economic growth rather than to support human well-being or care for the planet.
By prioritizing short-term gains and productivity over long-term sustainability and fairness, this system limits the vision of work as a space for growth, contribution, and collective care. It becomes increasingly difficult to imagine more liberatory, equitable, and regenerative ways of working.
As organizational designers, we see the underlying reasons why so many organizations are built for humanity to struggle — and yet, we’ve also glimpsed what is possible when we think differently. That’s why we’ve come together: to figure out how to make work better — and — to build a future where work is truly human-centered.
Here are just a few stories from our colleagues:
“I work for a small non-profit that redistributes food that would be wasted…while this is deeply motivating, it also comes at the price of feeling like I can not take a break or else I am letting thousands of people down….[I Feel] isolated in the work that [I] do.”
“I work with a health organization around team dynamics — my manager is so burned out that harm is actively being done to all their new, lovely diverse team because she is overworked and on the verge of a mental health crisis herself.“
“[In an early career role I was in,] senior management suddenly announced an increase to all employee working hours a day with no pay increase or compensation….I felt like I had no power to challenge the decision.”
So, what can we do?
We built a Case for Change.
For the past year, Either/Org, the Organizational Design Inspiration Lab, has been asking ourselves an essential question: what should our next steps be?. To guide this effort, we wanted to ensure our stories help mobilize us toward a future where work looks, feels, and creates radically different alternatives.
To envision this future, we asked ourselves critical questions:
Through the Either/Org Story Share workshop, collaborative analysis, interdisciplinary research, and more, ,we have been researching, organizing, facilitating, and asking ourselves essential questions to ensure we’re all building the right path together. What you’re about to see reflects that collective effort.
We set out to answer four key questions:
What is work like today?
Our first piece paints a clearer picture of where we stand today — so we can collectively envision what we need to build next.
We call this: The Story of Now.
What will our world become?
Every day, we make choices about how our work evolves. If business continues as usual, we will continue to more toward a world marked by economic exploitation, environmental collapse, and deepening inequality — a Nightmare.
Or, if we dramatically rethink how our work relationships, policies, infrastructure, and value are constructed, we could create a world defined by equity, innovation, and sustainability — a Dream.
Most organizations exist somewhere along the spectrum between these two extremes. This chapter illuminates both possibilities and the potential for our coming world.
We call this: The Story of the Future.
What connects us?
Let me ask you a question. Why are you still reading this document? Is it a commitment to equity? A concern for what future generations might experience? Is it because we’re describing a kind of work you’ve never thought possible?
Or is it because, deep down, you know your work needs to change?
This next chapter explores what connects us as a collective — and what principles that center this work.
We call this: The Story of Us.
What can we do together?
In the final section, we’ll begin a conversation about the future of work. Through insights from our experts, we’ll discuss what meaningful change might look like across organizations, spaces, and environments.
These are The Stories of Our Actions.
We stand at a pivotal moment in history where the need for change is no longer a choice but a necessity. The challenges we face — climate change, social injustice, economic inequality, and a global pandemic — demand that we rethink and reimagine the future of work. The old paradigms are unsustainable, and it is our collective responsibility to forge a path toward a more just, equitable, and thriving world.
Either/Org exists to challenge entrenched norms and reimagine how organizations are designed, led, and sustained. Breaking free from survival-based systems requires confronting deeply rooted structures that prioritize extraction over equity. Transitioning to ecosystems where care, collective growth, and equity drive success demands courage, sustained effort, and a willingness to embrace the discomfort of transformation.
Our theory of change is rooted in the concept of the pluriverse — a world of many interconnected, coexisting realities, perspectives, and ways of being. By embracing this diversity, we believe we can create workplaces that are innovative, empathetic, and truly reflective of humanity’s rich tapestry.
Dream, convene, and scheme with us!
Together, we can build organizations that are not just workplaces but vibrant communities of change-makers, innovators, and dreamers.
Let’s create a pluriverse of possibilities — where every individual’s potential is realized, and our collective efforts pave the way for a future that is just, inclusive, and thriving for all.
Welcome to Either/org. Welcome to the multiple futures of work.
Today, none of us knows what the future will hold.
Each day feels more precarious than the day before. Today, we’re experiencing record-breaking wildfires on one side of the globe and unprecedented flooding on the other. Artificial Intelligence is sold as both a godsend and one of the world’s impending progenitors of chaos. With growing precarity in political, economic, and ecological spaces, workplaces feel more authoritarian and controlling than ever before.
It is precisely in times like these that we must remember: the future of work is what we choose to build. Using the tools of inspiration, experimentation, and transformation, Either/Org seeks to lead conversations about the future of work.
Are you ready to tell your story?
This is the first part of a series on Either/Org’s Case for Change, a compendium of stories about liberatory work: the problems of now,
Stay tuned for the next pieces, coming soon:
1 | Story of Now.
available Jan 27, 2025.
2 | Story of the Future.
available Feb 3, 2025.
3 | Story of Us.
available Feb 10, 2025.
4 | Story of our Actions.
available Feb 17, 2025.
Acknowledgements
E/O Public Narrative Co-Leads
- Dr. Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon
- Amy J. Wilson
E/O Lab Director and Guiding Council
- Stephanie Gioia (Director)
- Katie Augsburger
- Hermes Huang
- Melanie Kahl
- Dr. Pierce Otlhogile-Gordon
- Mark Raheja
- Amy J. Wilson
Workshop Participants:
- Abby Coppock
- addison evans
- Aislinn Betancourt
- Amanda Stockwell
- Andrea Paull
- Andrew Pratt
- Anisa Osman
- Anna Higgins
- Ava Sazanami
- Barati
- Bianca Li Supreme
- Donovan Colquitt
- Eloise Smith-Foster
- Eme iniekung
- Erik Brown
- Gregorio Solis
- Gurjinder
- Ivel Gontan
- Jaxon Silva
- Jay Banks
- Jess Jones
- Jessica Wicksnin
- Kat Ward
- Kate ‘Sassy’ Sassoon
- Khaulat Abdulhakeem
- Kiki Cooper
- Laura Fortner-Monegan
- Lydia Hooper
- María Luisa Toro Hernández
- Mary Brodie
- Melinda Weekes-Laidlow
- Nadine Foik
- Nenuca Syquia
- Nikki Ramos
- Rashid Owoyele
- Ravi
- Robin Beers
- Sam Ladner
- Sandra Hwang
- Sean Kohler
- Seun Olatunji
- Shashi Kaant Bhatnagar
- Victor Udoewa
Our Call to Action
We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of places to do it:
Exploring the building blocks of organizational design? Check out the library.
Explore a library of organizational design patterns and case studies. Search by organizational design choice or strategic goal to get inspired.
Interested in getting help making the change for your organization? Check out the Guides.
To design organizations with integrity, it helps to work with an experienced guide through a design and experimentation process. Find people ready to partner!
Join our efforts.
Over the years, we’ve collaborated with local communities, universities, and more to build prototype organizational plans for creating, debating and evolving together. This project has big dreams to advance bold, inclusive organizational design research and practice.
- Add yourself to the LI Community Group to hear about upcoming events and opportunities
- Sign up to join our directory of Guides
- Add a pattern to the Inspiration Library
- Want to experiment together? Reach out to hello@eitherorg.org
Partner with us.
Want to learn about the Narrative Work? Ask us to give a talk or workshop.
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© 2025 by Either/Org is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
