Your career is dead and it's for the best | Matthieu Leventis | TEDxParcMontsouris

Are you happy to go to work ? Unfortunately, most of us aren't. But the world of work is changing quickly and is making progress. Matthieu Leventis shows us how new kind of companies, which are already emerging, will help us thrive and really enjoy our work lives.

Matthieu Leventis cofounded Mangrove (www.meetmangrove.com), a new kind of organisation that can be seen as a 'work ecosystem'. Mangrove is based on shared values and focused on personal fulfilment. It develops highly innovative ways of working. Matthieu also helps small and big companies transforming. He has a background in start-up management, quantitative economics, anthropology and physics and was trained in the best French universities.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

This is me.

Four years ago.

I was jumping into an ocean
that could be dangerous.

And many of us were jumping,

because we saw something.

A mammoth.

(Laughter)

The first time I met a mammoth
was two years before that.

I was working in a big corporation
in French television,

and I asked someone:

"Well you know Jo, my boss?
I think he doesn't like me."

"No, it's not that he doesn't like you.

You work well, but he thinks
you're not manageable."

OK.

(Laughter)

I didn't know it at the time,
but I was in front

of a true living mammoth.

(Laughter)

The next time in my life
I had to decide what to do,

I preferred to jump into the unknown
and create my startup,

to work for myself, to go solo.

But there's a problem in that.

It's not natural to want to go solo.

It can be very difficult,
and it has been for me,

like, more than what I expected.

And you're free, but something is missing.

Because we are social animals.

We need to belong
to something broader than ourselves.

So, if many of us were jumping away
to create a startup or to be freelance

that means that something went wrong,
somewhere and sometime.

By managing my own company and with time,

I understood what was wrong
and how to fix it.

And that's what I want
to share with you today.

So, think about your work.

Or if you don't work yet,
think about what you picture as work.

(Laughter)

Is there someone who decides
how you manage your time?

Do you have to ask their permission
to do things that you think matter?

Do you have to compete with others
and to fight for your spot?

Have you ever heard
this little voice, like,

"What am I doing, this is not my life!
I would like to do something else!"

I think that many of you answered, "Yes"
to these questions,

but you maybe think:

"That's normal. It's life."

I used to think like that.

Until I experienced
that something else was possible.

The sacrifices you made

were the consequence of an outdated
and bad management system

coming from the old ages,
used by the mammoths.

The mammoths

can be very big companies
or very small companies.

They see you as a part of a machine.

You are here to take
the pressure and transmit it.

They squeeze your desire
until you have no more.

They don't see you as a human being.

They breed unhealthy struggle
for power with their pyramids.

They do harm.

And there is worse:

Mammoths gave you
a wrong idea of what is work.

It took time for me to understand
that I want to work.

What would you do if tomorrow
I give you one million dollars?

Maybe you'll take a two year vacation.

And then?

You'll need to do something,
to have an activity.

Maybe you will craft music instruments.
Maybe you will farm the land.

But you'll do something.

Your heart wants to work, to contribute,
but not under any condition.

You want to own your work.

But the mammoths,
they won't let you do that.

So.. if they're so bad, why are they here?

Everywhere.

This field is a monoculture.

It's bad for the soil,
doesn't look very natural.

We know that polyculture is better.

But it's simpler, it reduces costs.

And for some time,
it's been the only thing we knew.

It's the same for management systems
and big companies.

And, if you look at it like that,
it looks strong.

But it's very weak.

It cannot handle any change or novelty.

A single new disease,
the whole field is dead.

We are entering a world
of high uncertainty.

Lots of novelty.

And the mammoths, they feel that.

And they feel they need to change.

92 per cent of the companies
have the main preoccupation

of redesigning the way we work.

That's a great opportunity
to make progress.

But how?

When you're lost, look for inspiration.

Ecosystems have two great advantages.

First, no living being in there
is controlled by another one.

There are relationships of symbiosis;

I help you grow, you help me grow.

Second: they are really
resilient to changes.

Some species may die,
others may develop;

but in the end,
the whole thing will still be living.

Ecosystems work by "sense and respond,"

not by "command and control."

Work ecosystems are appearing.

Deloitte call them "networks of teams."

There is no management,
it's replaced by clear rules.

Absolutely no one
is telling you what to do.

You're aware of all the opportunities,

and you pick the ones you like,
the ones you want to contribute to.

There is no work time,
there are no offices,

the people are everywhere,
in different countries.

So, this is my life,
I'm the co-founder of one of these.

I live in Paris,
but I've worked from Portugal,

from Morroco, from Berlin.

In two -three weeks I'm going to work
from the US for some time.

And we were in a countryside house
also with all the team three weeks before.

It's really efficient.

I know companies who sell products
in 100 countries

working like that,
there is not a single boss.

I know companies of 500 people
working like that.

It's not just isolated:

it can concern hospitals,
ship crews, maybe armies,

almost any activity
where you have management.

And even a lot of mammoths
start to transform this way.

What about you in this story?

You maybe thinking about your career

in terms of who you are,
"I am an accountant";

in terms of titles,
"I'm the head of operations of ...";

in terms of degrees,
"I have a degree in chemistry."

And there's a problem with that.

I used also to think like that,
and it kind of caused me harm.

So, now I say there is a problem!

It is that it's the mammoth
way of thinking.

So, if you think this way,

you will only get what
the mammoths have to give to you.

If you want to be part of an ecosystem,

you need to cultivate
what is important for the ecosystem.

And what is important is your values,

the impact you want to have,

your skills, what you know how to do.

They don't care about
how many people you can manage,

your education, your title.

What can you bring?
What are your achievements?

Are you reliable?
Can you take responsibilities?

You need to cultivate that.

And the mammoths, they taught all of us
to play our lives like chess.

So, plan your life.

But now, you should play
your life like Tetris.

Take what comes.

Fit that together.

Look at how it comes the best,
but don't plan too much.

And playing life like Tetris
will teach you a very important skill

which is personal reinvention.

The most important skill now

is the ability to change
when the environment changes.

I was trained hard
in quantitative economics

and then I had my tech startup

and tomorrow I think I'm going to work
with creative agencies for videos.

And how do I cultivate that?

With side projects.

I always have side projects,

and I always go towards what attracts me,
without thinking too much,

without asking myself
if I'm supposed to do that.

I've not been conditioned this way,
so it was not easy.

School, family, the whole society,
they don't understand that that much.

They will ask: "But, what
is your job, what do you do?"

You know, the mammoths are strong.

(Laughter)

But such are the new rules of the game.

So, work is not what you think it is.

It's not a sacrifice
that you do to gain other things,

you want to work,
to have an impact, to be useful.

It's in your human nature.

But the mammoths, and their career paths,

they were preventing you

from finding and doing
work you really desire.

But there is good news.

Good news is, they're being replaced
by models that will help you.

So please, don't feed the mammoths!

(Laughter)

Don't play their games
of titles and power.

Don't make them last
longer than they should.

Find your ecosystem, sharing your values.

Find your tribe, be safe with them.

And then compose your life like a menu,
go towards what attracts you,

learn to reinvent yourself,
and you'll be shining!

I will finish with one question:

Do you want to be squeezed
out by the machine

and become juice?

Or do you want to be planted
in an ecosystem

and grow into a beautiful tree ?

Well, your choice!

(Applause)