Over the last weeks and months, during my sabbatical and during my part-time working regime, I have written so much down in my personal journals, in documenting my dreams, in writing poetry and even fairytales that I probably have enough material to publish one post every day for the next 100 days.

Picture: "The Key in The Hand” installation by Chiharu Shiota 2015 Venice Biennale

I started seeing several themes, file-rouges and keys in what I was writing, and one of the main reflections was about work. About he nature of work. What constitutes “good” work. About the joy of work. About the frustrations of work. About meaningful work and fulfilment. In essence about the essence of work.

I have now bundled several of my musings about work in ten chapters/essays that I am going to release one by one in the coming days and weeks under the title “The Essence of Work”.

Most of the essays are basically written, some of them still mature as I reflect, as I lie down and let the world come to me. But at a certain time, I can’t withhold it anymore, and it is time to share my thoughts, doubts, inspirations and aspirations with my audience. And as usually – when you share – something magically happens that is called a high quality feedback loop. You get challenged, encouraged, there is a conversation starting. Like in The Cluetrain Manifesto: “Markets are conversations”.

The courage to publish – to release, to let go, to put out something into the world – is usually triggered by an event, something somebody says, a touch, a tear in an eye, somebody coming into your world, a resonance, a frequency, a signal.

Image: Cyrus Kabiru - Kenyan-artist

In this case it was the story of a manager telling her “subordinate” that she should look at her work “as a job”, where the job is a means to an end, and that end is getting a salary. I am paraphrasing, there was probably a little more subtlety to it all, but that was the essence of the message.

That story makes me sad and angry, and that’s why I want to get to the essence about what’s so wrong in that message and share with you what I feel is the essence of work.

This post is just the introduction to that blog series. To give you a feel of what’s coming, hereunder the titles of the 10 chapters or essays that I am going to release soon:

• The Essence of Work – Part 1 – Belief systems
• The Essence of Work – Part 2 – Fundamental Questions
• The Essence of Work – Part-3 – Values and Needs
• The Essence of Work – Part 4 – Caring
• The Essence of Work – Part 5 – Craftsmanship
• The Essence of Work – Part-6 – You are responsible
• The Essence of Work – Part 7 – Ten years to go
• The Essence of Work – Part 8 – Our projects
• The Essence of Work – Part 9 – Ethereal qualities
• The Essence of Work – Part 10 – At the edge, not beyond

These are not my own thoughts. Many are evolutions of deep insights by people much smarter than me. In every post, I will obviously reveal that source of the inspiration that keeps challenging me in my work. I am just re-chewing the source, sensing it, and trying to make sense out of it.

Hope you join me on this journey. Looking forward to your feedback, suggestions, challenges, conversations, and encouragements, if any.

UPDATE 28 August 2015: This event has been cancelled.

Please join me for a new kind of event.  One, where we won’t be glued to chairs in a ballroom or walking exhibits in a convention center.  We’ll be part of an open innovation campus in Sacramento, CA and truly enjoying the culture, music and arts of the city.

The event is INNOVATE @ TBD FEST and it will be held September 17-22, 2015 in Sacramento, California.

Think of it as a business playground to instigate new ideas, inspire new thinking, solve problems, develop creative leadership capacities, new ventures and quantifiable outcomes by interconnecting activists, business innovators and disruptors from around the world.  Plus, we’ll also get access to TBD Music, Arts and Culture FEST. It will be a blast.

I recently partnered with RELEVENTS as a curator-in-residence. Like Corporate Rebels United, this is my “night job” 😉

We have curated, along with some of the most brilliant minds, a Festival for YOU. It’s designed to be a social learning environment that is content-inspired, people–driven, results-oriented and perhaps, most importantly, a capabilities and new business accelerator.

Corporate Rebels United is a movement and a culture grounded in empowering a tribe of enthusiastic protagonists hungry for positive change. Not an anarchist tribe, but a tribe of people who care for the companies they work for and want to activate change.

We celebrate the Corporate Rebels who went the extra-mile: in helping our movement, in completing a hack, in pulling together a value practice, or doing something really awesome in their organization. Sacramento will bring to life the in-person recognition for a Corporate Rebel exposing the sort of behaviors needed to encourage and advance the movement.

Since 2012, Corporate Rebels United organizes a “Rebel Jam”, a 24h online event via WebEx. The last one was held on June 26^th. The recordings of all the sessions are now available here (*). Rebel Jam 2015 was a co-production by Corporate Rebels United, Rebels at Work, and Change Agents Worldwide.

And now, for the first time ever, REBELJAM GOES LIVE. On Friday September 18^th, we have created a dedicated Pavilion, bringing together our sharpest minds.

This is our call for partipation!

Are you ready to do what hasn’t been done before? Do you have the guts to go on stage, and share your corporate change story with the rest of the world?

If, so, please apply as a speaker via this link: http://innovate.relevents.com/experiences/rebel-jam-live

Rebels selected to speak will gain a complimentary entry to Innovate @ TBD FEST. 

Why should you trust RELEVENTS to produce this event?

RELEVENTS’ founders are rebels with a common cause. They left jobs in established and successful conference, media, and consulting firms and started RELEVENTS because, collectively they believe that there is a better way to produce, engage, and truly activate outcomes from industry events. They blur the lines and solve problems by changing the people in the room. They curate from a collective lens – connecting leaders, generations, brands and markets by keeping them relevant for the future. They create authentic interaction around real issues and prepare leaders for the competition that’s coming.

Their success is measured by what YOU GET OUT not what they put in.

You won’t read about the number of sessions or speakers or brand names. We built our experience on principle and purpose. We invited the world’s foremost change makers to facilitate an open innovation lab in the heart of Sacramento. The focus is on YOU. Not them.

Our At-A-Glance Program is now available to see. We’d love for you to check it out and let us know what you think!

Check out the Agenda

What happens when you work side-by-side with people already changing the world?

• You move the needle.
• You are forever inspired.
• You appreciate constraints.
• You learn to overcome obstacles.
• You strive for more.
• You think differently.
• You create new partnerships.
• You co-create with early adopters.
• You leave with a commitment to do and the network with whom to do it.

Join Us – Rogue Thinkers Welcome!

Early Bird – Save $1,000 when you register before August 6th.

Confirmed Rebel speakers get a free pass for the week.

Any of our rebels signing up as a participant get a Rebel VIP Discount code of 25%. Use my Festival Code VIPVanderAuwera to receive 25% off the published rate. Look forward to seeing you in Sacramento!