Arguably one of humanity’s most important inventions, “modern” management was developed more than a century ago to maximize standardization, specialization, hierarchy, control, and shareholder interests.

While that model delivered an immense contribution to global prosperity, the values driving our most powerful institutions are fundamentally at odds with those of this age. Ideas like zero-sum thinking, profit-obsession, power, conformance, control, hierarchy, and obedience don’t stand a chance against community, interdependence, freedom, flexibility, transparency, meritocracy, and self-determination. It’s time to radically rethink how we mobilize people and organize resources to productive ends.

You can’t tackle nowadays mega-challenges if you’re not willing to do three things:

Aim high. Don’t rest until you’ve done everything you can do to make your organization as resilient, inventive, inspiring, and accountable as it can be.

Challenge the status quo. You have to be a relentless contrarian to peel away the operating assumptions and built-in beliefs that surround us like wallpaper.

Explore the fringe. The future doesn’t happen in the corner office or the conference room. It starts out there, on the edges, around the bend. You have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone and venture into unlikely realms if you want to keep yourself and your organization changing ahead of the times.

Summing-up: Unlike the early management pioneers who set themselves the task of turning free-thinking flesh-and-blood human beings into semi-programmable robots, we are working with the grain of human nature. The only way to build an organization that’s truly fit for the future is to build one that’s truly fit for human beings.