How Corporations Lost Humanity

Steve Keil is an entrepreneur, investor and teacher who delivers an inspiring and eye-opening culture destruction keynote during which he discusses the loss of humanity within today's big corporations. This loss of humanity, according to Keil, stems from the decreasing value of company employees. Companies no longer nurture and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of their workers.

He states that business is broken and innovation is stuck and identifies the six stages during which this happens to businesses. The first is genesis -- when a company is first born and hope and entrepreneurial spirit is high. The second is growth, the third is 'Taylorism,' the fourth is 'zombification', the fifth is apathy and the sixth is doom. As soon as growth begins executives and managers start to focus less on details because growth is perceived as all that matters. Regulations, procedures, hierarchy and outsourcing make it hard for employees to be heard and to make a difference.

These six steps essentially lead to the demise of a company as employees grow complacent and throw in their towel. The focus needs to shift back to the ideas and creativity of employees to save business.