JOOST MINNAAR - Corporate Rebels: Make Work More Fun

PRAISE FOR CORPORATE REBELS

I have long been a fan of the Corporate Rebels and this book captures the essence of their wisdom. The authors provide a no-nonsense, practical, and thought-provoking perspective on the world of work.

Daniel Pink, author of When, Drive, and A Whole New Mind

Challenge chosen truth is one of my recurring mottos and that is exactly what Corporate Rebels are doing! A clever read for all employees, HR professionals and business leaders that want to create radically inspiring workplaces.

Katarina Berg, Chief HR Officer of Spotify

Corporations need disrupting, and the business world needs the Corporate Rebels. They are a timely and very welcome wake up call for capitalism. A breath of fresh air in management thinking, the Rebels are on the Thinkers50 Radar for a very good reason. Their voices resonate for a new generation who are demanding a radically different approach to work and life.

Des Dearlove, co-founder of Thinkers50

Businesses, or rather their customers and employees, are asking for more sustainable and better ways of organising work. The Corporate Rebels have been able to hit the nail on the head; they share alternatives in an inspiring way. Beautiful!

Jos de Blok, founder and CEO of Buurtzorg

A silent revolution in management is under way. For people to notice, and join the revolution, we need to give it a voice, or rather many, many voices. The Corporate Rebels have made it their job to bring us such voices and their stories.

Frederic Laloux, author of Reinventing Organisations

The Corporate Rebels give a valuable, refreshing, and unique contribution to thinking and doing on new organisational models. With solid choices and research, with a transparent approach, with practical insights, with nuance and with a lot of courage. Bravo!

Yuri van Geest, co-author of Exponential Organisations

Joost Minnaar and Pim de Morree have covered the planet to meet all the organisations, leaders, and thinkers who aim to transform the command-and-control workplace into a place where work is fun. The authors found over one hundred of them and through their no-nonsense stories provide hope and vision to any student of organisation. A most interesting and original book.

Isaac Getz, co-author of Freedom, Inc. and Leadership Without Ego

The Corporate Rebels are the place to go for the most exciting and innovative developments in management across the planet. They stimulate, they challenge, they find the cutting-edge companies and paint a picture of how organisations could be different, and much more fun to work for. Whether you are a business leader or an employee, they will change the way you think about work.

Henry Stewart, Chief Happiness Officer, Happy Ltd

Dont fail to check out The Corporate Rebels, a prime resource on the future of work. Too little focus has been spent on a key lever of corporate performance: the workplace and workplace culture. The Corporate Rebels change that and highlight how the right techniques help companies improve the bottom line, boost growth, and feature as an undeniable force for good.

Alexander Osterwalder, author of Business Model Generation and creator of the Business Model Canvas

The Corporate Rebels are the poets laureate of the Future of Work. Superb story wranglers, they travel across the globe in search of the planets most radically transformative workplaces. Galvanised by their former dreary corporate identities, they bring an effervescent energy and contagious enthusiasm to their task, inviting leaders to enter a world of engagement, respect and lofty performance. This book gives the curious and adventurous a chance to hitch a ride with the Rebels and see the world through their experienced eyes, and to catch a glimpse of a future where everyone can love their work. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Doug Kirkpatrick, author of Beyond Empowerment: The Age of the Self-Managed Organisation

They call themselves Corporate Rebels, but you could also call them explorers: in search for the ultimate employee happiness.

Het Financieele Dagblad (Dutch Financial Newspaper)

As the work world evolves, the old organisational solutions of centuries past are increasingly out of date. While its far from the mainstream and well off the beaten intellectual path, there is innovative, cutting edge work happening that is changing the work world for the better. Ashanti Alston once wrote that, One of the most important lessons I also learned from anarchism is that you need to look for the radical things that we already do and try to encourage them. This is exactly what the crew at Corporate Rebels are doingfantastic detective work to tease out these new approaches; to advocate for still little known, but more holistic ways to work; to encourage creative leaders to steer clear of hierarchy and embrace new, more positive, more progressive and ultimately more productive approaches. If you want get the latest from the front lines of the world of progressive organisations, sign up for everything you can get from Corporate Rebels and help make the work revolution of the 21st century a reality.

Ari Weinzweig CEO and co-founder of Zingermans

CORPORATE REBELS: MAKE WORK MORE FUN

ISBN 9789083004815

Cover and interior design VLERK&LIEM & Oranje Vormgevers

Copyright Corporate Rebels Nederland B.V. 2019

LONDON

We straighten our bow ties. These suits take some getting used-to after leaving the corporate world behind years ago. The De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms serve the stage for todays Thinkers50 Awards Gala, also known as the Oscars of Management Thinking.

Leading figures of the management world are here: prominent academics, workplace gurus. We look slightly out-of-place. Were half the age of many of the other guests, and judging by the looks we get, were not the only ones to notice.

While the presenter announces the nominees, we share a Corporate Rebels glance of amazement. Who would have thought wed be at an event like this? When we started this adventure, nobody expected us to get this far. We had no money, no earnings model, and above all, no well-thought-out business plan. Our optimism brought us here.

Weve visited five continents and more than 30 countries, investigated over 100 pioneers and conducted more than a thousand interviews. Based on this, weve written 300 blog posts, given presentations and helped companies to overhaul old-fashioned structures and working methods. Weve been surfing in California while visiting one of these inspiring companies, where employees work for a better world. Weve been to Stockholm to visit a company employing hundreds but without a boss. Weve spent time with a Chinese firm that has 70,000 employees who operate as if theyre running their own business.

Weve had meetings with Belgian officials who decide where, when, and how they work. There have been interviews with non-conformist academics, pioneering writers and eccentric thought-leaders. We are now on first-name terms with rebellious CEOs and entrepreneurs from Australia to New York and Sao Paulo to Dubai. In short, weve learned more about our chosen subject than we ever dared hope.

We look around and reflect on what an honour it is to be here. How wonderful that we have been named among the Top 30 Emergent Management Thinkers. To us, this is a sign of something bigger, a glimpse of the change we wanted to bring about. Were hoping for a shift away from workplace dissatisfaction towards idealism and meaning.