Future of Work Freedman

‘America is arguably the most age-diverse society in human history – it’s high time to prepare for our increasingly multigenerational workforce’

Reflections on the big issues shaping our workforce in the coming year from our WorkingNation Advisory Board
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We asked our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the most important issues and challenges facing the workforce and the labor market in 2024.

Marc Freedman is founder and co-CEO of CoGenerate, a nonprofit working to bridge generational divides.

Here are his thoughts on The Future of Work 2024.

“I see three challenges to the future of work in the nonprofit sector and one possible solution to them all.

“First, there’s a mass exodus of older leaders from the nonprofit sector as they retire, taking their knowledge and connections with them. Second, there’s a lack of racial diversity – and other types of diversity – in nonprofit leadership positions. And third, younger generations are rightfully prioritizing mental health in work and in life, turning away from 60-hour weeks.

“I believe – from personal experience – that cogenerational co-leadership can tackle all three issues at once. Last year, my colleague Eunice Lin Nichols and I became co-CEOs. The move has made it possible for me to stay longer, sharing my knowledge and connections over time.

“Co-leadership has created more diversity in the top job. Eunice is a Chinese American woman in her 40s. I’m a white, Jewish man in my 60s. Our diverse but complementary perspectives, experiences, and skills add value and productivity, helping us do a better job of leading.

“Lastly, co-leadership has created shared responsibility for the big picture, which is a huge relief to me after decades of holding the CEO job alone. As a result, I’m trying harder (really I am!) to preserve my health and achieve life balance, with credit to younger leaders for showing me the way.

“I believe others will find the same payoffs. At a juncture when America is arguably the most age-diverse society in human history – with 25% of the population under 20, and 23% over 60 – it’s high time to prepare for our increasingly multigenerational workforce.”

Read more from our WorkingNation Advisory Board members on The Future of Work 2024.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.