#whatif – The first round of contributions

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Blorange

The first round of our blog parade What if…? is over and some exciting contributions came together. I would like to present them here and comment briefly.

Björn Czybik was the first and formulated one of my questions to: “What if there were no more formal roles?” A fictitious (?) scenario is about a CFO whose role is under discussion. After many emotions the situation is finally resolved by a reformulation of the title. A wonderful plea for more humanity and less business theatre:
What if people treated people like people?

Completely unnoticed, Ardalan Ibrahim followed with an article about emotions. Ardalan definitely shakes up social norms with his thoughtful article. A colleague of mine once said that emotions are not part of business. What is needed is professionalism and often put up a brave front. Then where do you let it out? At home with the family? Playing sports? Our children also systematically unlearn openness and emotions. We don’t want them to negatively stand out in the competition for good grades and social status. Ardalan proposes to address emotional withdrawal. It’s all worth a try. I just wonder how I can make this routine against my conditioning of the last decades?
What if we no longer accepted emotional withdrawal without reaction?

Stefan Grabner impressively shows that “What if…?”questions do not always have to end in a rosy future. He asked the question “What if the Internet is switched off tomorrow”. The first step he describes is the setting of the mail dispatch. I thought that was still quite funny and for many people this would be a rather attractive perspective in view of overflowing mailboxes. But when you can’t visit any more websites, it’s not so much fun anymore. Software-as-a-Service (Saas) in the cloud is increasingly becoming the standard. In many companies, value creation would therefore collapse quickly. We would quickly feel the effects on our daily lives. There is no more money at the ATM and shops can no longer order goods. It’s quite a dystopia!
THE INTERNET WILL BE SWITCHED OFF TOMORROW!

What if a blog post only consists of questions? Doris thought so and asked a whole series of questions. My favorite question is this one: “What if everyone was a little nicer to everyone else?” We could take that to heart in companies, couldn’t we?
FOR THE WEEKEND: WHAT IF

Firmenfunk is absolutely relevant for companies. It is the first contribution in the form of a podcast and then our motto made it as the title of the anniversary episode #20. Leonid and Ludger, who certainly had his hands on the title, ask themselves: “What if the Firmenfunk podcast, NewWork and digital leadership wouldn’t be needed (any more)? As in the previous episodes of Firmenfunk, a lot is about WOL (working out loud). What are the benefits? How do I find circles? However, it quickly goes beyond the WOL method. How do we create networked organizations? What if companies did not have profit as their primary goal? Would they be less successful? What if we refactor socially? Can organizations be maintained and further developed in the same way as software? There are also some exciting tooltips.
FF020 What if

My blogger colleague Bianka really took the motto to heart, questioned mental boundaries and also provoked a little. What does a contribution about monogamy have to do with companies? More than you might think at first glance. The first is the subject of emotions. Bianka explores where jealousy comes from. This can be applied to the business world. Where does my anger at my colleague come from? Didn’t we just grow up with different values, norms and rules? Reminds me strongly of my article Secret rules – What’s below the tip of the iceberg?. And even if the comparison between partnership and employment doesn’t make 100% sense, most employment relationships are “monogamous” today. Not everyone is “married” to their employer until they retire, but the majority of the population has exactly one employment relationship. Digitisation and automation will herald the end of traditional full-time employment in many areas. This will probably make several parallel jobs the new normal.
What if monogamy had never been invented?

What if companies then shared their workforce? In the end still with the competitor? In case you missed it, here’s my first post again:
What if there was no competition?

And on the home stretch to the first lap Kathrin Hentzschel came around the corner with a perfect satire. She looks to Germany in 2025 and Angela Merkel still rules (probably not so utopian) and introduces a 100% organic quota by 2035. Much reminds me of the energy transition that is underway in Germany. Maybe we can even transition the food sector without a “Fukushima” case. I think it’s all feasible. Presumably we have also exaggerated a little bit about competition in the food sector. Who brings the cheapest meat to the shelf? How can I increase the margin on food? Usually this happens through downgrading where valuable ingredients are replaced by cheap ones. Incidentally, we do not have to wait for Angela Merkel, but can already consume the corresponding offers today.
Germany 100 % organic

That was it with the first round of entries. Unfortunately none of them in English except my own. But you can be the first to change it. I am enthusiastic about the thematic diversity, the different approaches and the mix of positive and critical outlooks. This has definitely whetted the appetite for more. So we asked ourselves: What if we let the blog parade continue until the end of the year? Except for the missing deadline to submit a contribution, we could not come up with a counterargument. The exchange about more future scenarios and unbiased thought experiments hopefully motivates more than an approaching deadline. We are therefore looking forward to many more contributions. Some are already in the works. You can find out how to participate in the Blog Parade call.

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