The Corporate Lattice

Summary

THE WORKPLACE ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE— AND NEITHER IS THE WORKFORCE.
Today’s companies have fewer hierarchical layers. The nature of work is also more virtual, collaborative, and transparent than at any previous time. Information flows move every which way, shifting from top-down to all-in. And the workforce is forever altered, too. Sweeping changes in expectations across backgrounds, experiences, generations, and gender are challenging long-held, inflexible beliefs about the relationship between work and life—and the very meaning of success.

These transformations, observe Cathleen Benko and Molly Anderson, are also upending the ways people advance along their career paths. Careers zig and zag. Work is what you do, not where you go. The traditional corporate ladder, firmly rooted in the industrial era, proffers a one-size-fits-all view of the world of work. In this audio book, the authors argue convincingly that a lattice model is better suited to today’s global business environment.

The Corporate Lattice provides a framework to help organizations transform how careers are built, how work is done, and how participation is fostered. The corporate lattice model offers leaders a strategic approach to making the most of the shifting landscape by:

• Recognizing that there is no longer a universal view of success but rather a multiplicity of ways to grow and contribute.
• Challenging traditional models that pit high performance and career–life fit as opposing forces.
• Providing a cost-effective, systematic method to deliver more individualized and engaging work experiences.

Offering much more than theory, the authors illustrate the lattice model using rich, in-depth case studies of exemplars including Cisco and Thomson Reuters. They also explore the changing role each individual plays in directing his or her own lattice journey.

As businesses are challenged to scale economies of innovation and flexibility, investing for the future using yesterday’s corporate ladder blueprint is futile. The Corporate Lattice teaches organizations how to adapt to the changing world and reveals why lattice organizations are both more productive—and more profitable.