Hi, I’m Bill Fox. I’m a consultant and author of The Future of the Workplace.
After witnessing and experiencing so many heartbreaking and unsuccessful organizational change initiatives over my career, I looked for a better way to transform and improve organizations. But how?
To make it real, I interviewed leading change practitioners and other experts in a series I called 5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success. I asked, “What is your best improvement strategy?”
Remarkably, I rarely got an answer about process improvement. People didn’t talk about Agile, CMMI, Lean, Six Sigma or the latest silver-bullet solution. Instead, they talked about something deeper: about trust, reflection, new questions, new leadership, understanding the status quo and much more. People shared fascinating and surprising new questions, strategies and insights with me.
I create containers that engage and unleash the collective voice, energy, and wisdom of everyone.
Bill Fox
After 50 interviews, I discontinued the 5 Minutes to Process Improvement series because it wasn’t about process improvement. Something else seemed to happen, and I needed time to reflect on it.
In fact, conducting those 50 interviews was so powerful that it triggered my own inner transformation. My mind became noticeably quieter. I became a better listener. I was less reactive to my circumstances. I also realized there was an enormous power in my intentions — and in the questions those intentions led me to ask.
These inner changes allowed me to have a new conversation. As I became less judgmental, more open and a better listener, people seemed to feel freer and safer, and they shared deeper insights with me.
I also knew how rare that was in the workplace. And I recognized that I and so many others felt like aliens at work. On the surface, we may have seemed happy, committed and motivated. But look a little deeper, and there was more unease and dissatisfaction than most of us will admit.
Because of the deep and pervasive need for transformation in most workplaces—along with the changes occurring within me and the kinds of insights people were now eager to share—I came up with a new series of interview questions. With that, the Exploring Forward-Thinking Workplaces interview series was underway, which led to my most recent book, The Future of the Workplace and my weekly newsletter FORWARD21.
In addition to curating and publishing my own content, I search the web and dive deep into hundreds of books to discover the leaders and ideas that lead to the forward thinking human and workplace. I engage with these leaders in a 21st-century conversation to distinguish practical wisdom to help you see new pathways, make better decisions, and be the forward thinking leader in the room.
Other resources you may be interested in exploring include:
- A Forward Thinking Workplace published in the Cutter Business Technology Journal
- How to Elevate Yourself, Your Conversations, and Your Future article on LinkedIn
- View the newsletter archive
- Joining the Insider Portal to access all my exclusive content
To your great work life & success!
Co-founder