SXSW 2013 Sampler

Introduction
In my last corporate job, as the CEO of cloud-based call center
LiveOps, I was hired to scale a start-up company to become a
mature, fast-growing, operationally excellent technology company,
but something else unexpected happened. I began to see
how big of a problem work has become for most of us, and how
much we could change to make it better. I learned about how many
people were unhappy and unfulfilled and eager for an alternative
way that would give them more control over their lives.
This dissatisfaction was widespread—and alarming. One
survey found that less than half of Americans (just 47 percent) are
satisfied with their work. 1 (When the Conference Board’s first
survey was conducted in 1987, most workers—61 percent—said
they were happy in their job.)
As an employer, I know that this decline in job satisfaction is
unacceptable and dangerous. Another survey by consulting firm
Mercer found that the most discontented are young employees,
with 44 percent of those ages sixteen to twenty-four and 40
percent of the twenty-five- to thirty-four-year-olds saying they
‘‘seriously are considering leaving’’ their jobs. 2
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