Artisans, Minorities, and disrupting the status quo

Recent events in Australian politics where the Speaker of the House of Representatives was forced to resign over her use of travel entitlements is just one indicator for me that the Aristocracy is alive and well. Of course it's emerged that the Speaker wasn't/isn't the only one accessing privileges beyond the reach of most other people.

"On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world's wealth by 2016."

There's another trend that I'm more interested in - the rising influence of artisans and minorities and how they/we are disrupting the status quo. This trend is impacting your business as much, and I suspect it will soon be more so, than the whims and ideologies of the Aristocracy.

Increasingly my wife and I are buying goods and services made or provided by artisans. We can visit dozens of markets and speciality shops within a few miles of our home. We prefer to buy what's been made with love. We prefer to support artisans than greedy corporates. Often we gladly pay more than what's on offer at the supermarket and other big box shops. We're using services provided by entrepreneurs who love what they do and are doing so for people who love what they do. You?

In your business, as in every business, there's an increasing disquiet, in some places downright anger, that bosses and owners are receiving unfair rewards on the back of the labour of employees.

Herein lies a wonderful opportunity, one that smart, savvy, and salt of the earth business leaders are grasping with head, heart, and hands.

We humans are one-of-a-kind beings, remarkable simply by virtue of our birth.

Of the 100 billion people who've have walked planet earth, there's never been a duplicate.

Today millions of people the world over are reclaiming their remarkability.

Women and other people in minorities when it comes to leadership roles, are leading the way.

They're driven by three intrinsic motivators according to Daniel Pink in his wonderful book Drive - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

The BIG question for you to answer with your actions is How well are we helping our people to achieve what is driving them?

Your employees are disrupting the status quo (normal) with gaining speed, as are entrepreneurs everywhere - think Uber, Airbnb, and Alibaba, just to name three that are well known.

You have three fundamental choices - be a disrupter (change what's normal), join those disrupting, or be disrupted. What choice have you made?

Be remarkable.
Ian