2022: A Year of Good Ideas

The biggest topics on the minds of organizations this year? Here are five we picked up while listening in at events of all kinds with organizations across industries.

1. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

Teams gathered for earnest, honest and difficult discussions about belonging, culture, burden, opportunity and visioning.

Key takeaway: Organizations must offer space for team members to gather and share stories, and focus on listening–first, foremost and ongoing.

2. Integrated Wellness

In a pandemic-influenced and economically shifting world, where team members are burnt out, quiet quitting, being laid off, and more – work-life balance and physical, mental and emotional wellbeing have never been more top-of-mind.

Key takeaway: To keep up with an evolving world, organizations must shift toward seeing team members holistically, with full lives in and out of work, and structure policies, practices and flexibility for wellbeing around that idea.

3. Elevating Women

We felt lucky to draw with lots of women-founded companies, women-run teams and first-of-their-kind women-centric events and projects this year.

Key takeaway: We have a long way to go and much work to do to reach real gender (spectrum) equity in the workplace, but the strength and reach of the women-run organizations, teams, projects and events we got to partner with and for this year have us feeling supported and hopeful. Let's continue to work together to keep building and taking up space.

4. Building Culture

These days, building workplace culture is about a lot more than just perks and parties. Team members want to work for employers who are values-aligned, or at least values-overlapping – and who demonstrate their values in actions day-to-day.

Key takeaway: Workplaces with healthy cultures create spaces to lay out and develop their values, supporting strategies, expectations and communication styles for clarity and shared understanding, so that each person can "bring their whole self" to work confidently.

5. Forward Thinking Ideation

Artificial Intelligence, advancements in medicine, tech to improve lives, and ways to regulate that technology for safety, privacy and good ethics – all of these came up during ideation sessions and presentations in 2022.

Key takeaway: Innovation is exciting, but we are most moved by the organizations who are also considering the implications and full life cycles of their ideas. How will this idea impact us in 5 years? 50?