dispatches from the new world of work

A Public Declaration of Intent

You heard it here first. In the last few years, I've actively championed a number of causes that excite me, and that I think are important to the world at large. Among them: Design. Marketing to Women. Marketing to Boomers-Geezers. Women in leadership roles. Making the work matter: Wow Projects; Brand You; turning "staffs"/"cost centers" into value-adding Professional Service Firms. Increasing corporate "metabolic rates" to master crazy times. And now the time has come for another Big Initiative ...

Namely: Wellness.

The idea refers directly to the "corporate side" of health care, our biggest industry by far: that is, re-imagining health care ... TOTALLY ... so as to shift perspective from chemical/surgical after-the-fact fixes for errant body parts ... to Prevention-Healing-Wellness-Wholeness-Creativity. I learned two days ago, while addressing those responsible for the nation's Eldercare, just how noisy and obnoxious—and I hope persuasive—I could be on this topic. I PLAN TO GIVE NO QUARTER TO HEALTH CARE TRADITIONALISTS!* (*I'd love to do the same for Schools ... but, alas, I feel the system is largely intractable. The Boomer Tsunami will definitely push "healthcare world"—whether its denizens like it or not.)

Wellness, as I plan to define it, also directly engages the individual—in both a "Brand You World" and a business environment that demands unprecedented attention to creativity-innovation. The individual becomes more than a human machine/"interchangeable part"; the "whole person" must be "present & accounted for" in order to add value in these fascinating-exciting-threatening times. In such personal/revised "quests," TW/Total Wellness (physical and emotional and spiritual) is paramount as never before—a Survival Strategy, even.

Also, there is an essential-intriguing "geezer" angle here: i.e., making these wildly numerous, increasingly healthy (mechanically) Elders exciting, growing, creative contributors—not just carcasses to be "dealt with" until time to depart.

So that's where I fancy I'll head! Comments welcome! (PLEASE!)

Tom Peters posted this on 10/06/04.