I am looking forward Wednesday to having as my guest, my good friend, Rich Sheridan. Rich will be talking about the future of the workplace (The Future of the Workplace). Since the publication of his first book, Joy Inc., Rich has become a thought leader about how to transform the workplace into a more joyous and productive environment. Now, as we face uncertainty about what the workplace will look like after the pandemic, Rich is one of the most qualified people in the world to provide a view of how we can transform work.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Rich for over 20 years. I consider him to be one of my local heroes. When I first met Rich, he began to articulate the concept of what some call agile, and others call lean. We met when Richard had just been laid off from a leadership role at a local software company. Rather than going back to work at another software firm, Rich accepted the challenge of starting his own firm, which would emphasize teamwork, organizational design, with a concept he called, high-tech anthropology. He and his merry band of radical change agents called the new company Menlo Innovations, named after Edison’s Menlo Park in New Jersey.
Within a few months of starting the company, Rich’s face was emblazoned on the cover of Forbes magazine. Only a few years later, after much success at Menlo, we could see his face on the side of many Ann Arbor buses. I guess you could call that real progress.
Thousands of people have toured the Menlo facilities. When I first saw the team in action, they were in a small space next to the People’s Food Co Op. Not having an office, Rich would buy his guests coffees at the next door coffee shop. Since then, Menlo has expanded two times. Rich has given 287 speeches throughout the world and has been invited to the White House to present his ideas.
What I like about Rich is not just his brilliance as an entrepreneur and as a team leader, but also the way that he has become a mentor to hundreds of young entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor and the state of Michigan. No matter how busy he is, he is open to helping those who want to start their own businesses or advance their careers. He is a devoted husband and father and remains loyal to his old friends.
In 2002, Rich and I and our mutual friend, Kathy Macdonald started a program through Leaders Connect called Michigan Leaders Read. We had hundreds of people in the Ann Arbor area read and discuss Good to Great by Jim Collins. Now that Rich has written Joy Inc. and a new book called Chief Joy Officer, I think as we approach 2022 it is time to restart Michigan Leaders Read. This time, I am proposing that Joy Inc. be the first book we read.
So please join us via Zoom on Wednesday, December 15th, from 8am – 9am to hear Rich talk about the future of the workplace.