Briefing No.01 — Business, Culture, & Belonging

Future of Work: A Four-Part Series

Belonging is the fabric through which we experience the world, conceptualized as a ‘lived, complex process, shaped by the power relationships inherent in social structures, continually renegotiated in contested space. Our innate function as humans has been centered around us being in relationship—to one another, to ourselves, and to our collective existence.

Historically, belonging to a group was essential to survival. All members of a tribe were invested in one another’s outcomes because the participation and well-being of each was essential to the overall success of the tribe. Each member had their role and each was valued as such. Today, a good part of the average person’s relationship to contribution, value exchange, and social interaction is found in the workplace. The examination of belonging in relation to work has revealed deep wisdom about the nature of our species and the impact of our social institutions.

This Briefing serves as one of four perspective pieces on the Future of Work as part of the Future of Work Collective. In addition to key ideas from the session on Business, Culture, & Belonging, we discuss global and local trend analyses, paradoxes, contemplations, and how the promising points of possibility captured below can help us seed a future state for a more desirable intersection of business, culture, and belonging.

For the purposes of this Briefing, we see that the roles of the family unit, society, and education are ingrained in the integration of our cultural narratives, the role of work in our lives, and the foundation for what it is to be human in this moment—all through the lens of belonging.