How to Apply Basic Work Design Principles for Organizational Success Featuring Thomas Bertels

Smashing the Plateau

Thomas Bertels is a management consultant and business transformation expert on a mission to make work more productive, valuable, meaningful, and impactful. He has more than 25 years of experience helping companies across a range of industries, from startups to Fortune 5, transform how work gets done. Thinkers360 has recognized Thomas as a Top 50 Thought Leader on the Future of Work and Design Thinking.

Before starting Purpose Works in 2021, Thomas was a founding partner at OXYGY/Valeocon. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Aon Consulting and ABB.

Thomas has written several books and numerous articles on work design, process improvement, business transformation, and organizational learning. His latest book is Fixing Work: Designing Jobs Employees Love (Greenleaf Book Group). He is also the host of the Work Matters podcast, where he explores in conversations with thought leaders and executives what leaders can do to fix work.

Thomas and I discuss:

• Thomas’s motivation for writing his latest book
• Why Thomas chose to write a business fable
• The process of writing an allegory
• Differences between writing an allegory and a traditional business book
• The impact Thomas hopes his book will have
• The connection between the book and Thomas’s business
• Challenges Thomas foresees for thought leaders today
• What successful consultants do differently
• How Thomas would start his consulting business today
• Basic principles of the work design framework
• The role of community in achieving professional success

Learn more about Thomas Bertels at:

• Homepage www.purpose.works
• Book Site www.fixing-work.com
• Newsletter purposeworks.substack.com
• Diagnostic www.mymojo.works
• Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@WorkMatterspodcast
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasbertels/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/purpose-works-consulting

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