Ideas and Innovations Thanksgiving Week Sampler 2025
A Season of Reflection and Gratitude
Issue 240, November 27, 2025
As we gather around tables this Thanksgiving week, we pause to recognize what truly matters in our organizations and our lives. The season of gratitude invites us to reflect on the connections we’ve built, the communities we’ve fostered, and the shared purposes that bind us together.
This week, rather than exploring a single topic, we’re offering a curated sampler of seven Ideas and Innovations issues that embody the spirit of thanksgiving. Each speaks to the fundamental human needs for belonging, purpose, courage, and connection that transcend the everyday challenges of day-to-day life and the constant cycles of transformation and change.
These aren’t just business topics. They are explorations of what makes us human in the workplace and beyond.
Issue #1: Shared Purpose (June 2022)
When the world feels fractious and divided, shared purpose becomes the anchor that holds us together. This issue explores how organizations can create authentic communities built on trust, respect, and the intrinsic dignity of every individual. In a recent FlexJobs survey, toxic company culture emerged as the number one reason people quit their jobs. Shared purpose addresses this directly by actualizing trust and creating something larger than ourselves to believe in. As we gather with family and colleagues this Thanksgiving, the reminder is clear: we all need something meaningful to connect to, something that gives our daily efforts purpose and meaning. Organizations that understand this don’t just survive, they thrive by building cultures where people genuinely want to belong.
Issue #2: Taking Stock (December 2022)
Year-end reflection is more than checking boxes on resolutions. This comprehensive issue invites us to pause and genuinely assess what we’ve learned, what surprised us, and what questions we should be asking as we move forward. The piece explores everything from the resilience of democratic systems to the power of consumer demand in shaping organizational culture, from the ongoing challenges of mental health in the workplace to the fundamental human need to belong. The newsletter concludes with a note of optimism that feels particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving: “We truly believe that we all have the capability and capacity to lead with courage. We want to belong, make a difference, work with others who believe in something larger than themselves and be part of a relevant community.” This Thanksgiving, take time to reflect not just on what went right or wrong, but on what patterns are emerging and what paths forward will serve yourself, your organization and its people best.
Issue #3: Belonging Matters (November 2023)
The most fundamental motivation among the human species is to belong. This issue dives deep into what belonging means in organizational contexts, exploring how it creates trust, affinity, and caring about something bigger than yourself. Renowned philosopher Dan Dennett encouraged everyone to dedicate themselves to something more important than themselves to find meaning and purpose in their lives. The newsletter explores how belonging relates to leading with courage, creating shared purpose, and building organizational cultures where everyone has the opportunity to communicate freely and contribute meaningfully. As families gather this Thanksgiving, the message resonates: without belonging, organizations splinter and individuals feel disconnected. The goal is creating an ecosystem with a sense of belonging for everyone, not separate groups operating at odds with each other. This season reminds us that measuring what matters includes measuring empathy, gratitude, and the halo effects of genuine belonging.
Issue #4: Where Has Our Optimism Gone? (April 2024)
If you were asked to describe America’s personality, you might use words like resilient, optimistic, can-do, problem-solving. Yet something has shifted. This issue explores how constant information flow, polarization, and ambient stress affect our collective outlook and what we can do about it. The newsletter references a powerful moment: the 2024 solar eclipse that offered Americans a brief moment of unity. The New York Times captured it perfectly: “For a nation pulled apart by every manner of division, the eclipse offered a moment of unity, however brief. It was a reminder to everyone, on the same day and at the same time, that life can be magical. That being alive is a collective experience. That there is something astonishing about being part of the greater story of things.” Thanksgiving offers us another such moment, a shared ritual that reminds us of collective optimism and gratitude. The issue challenges us to hold onto that feeling, to recognize the correlation between public sentiment and private wellbeing, and to actively cultivate the optimism and can-do spirit that has always driven progress.
Issue #5: Leading with Courage (September 2021)
Courage is not typically at the top of leadership prerequisite lists, yet it’s key to everything that matters. This issue explores how courage enables organizations to challenge assumptions, share ideas, speak up, see things differently, and receive feedback honestly. The piece argues that collective intelligence and courage are what society needs to evolve and advance, that risk is a key factor in progress. In times of ambiguity and ambient stress, traditional hierarchical structures that inhibit courage become dangerous. The newsletter asks: how can we as individuals, employees, leaders, and organizations better manage ambiguity and establish shared purpose? The answer involves creating workplace cultures that encourage speaking up and challenging the status quo as keys to success. This Thanksgiving, consider what courage looks like in your organization. Are people brave enough to share constructive criticism? Do they have the courage to voice gratitude and appreciation? Courage transcends obvious leadership and needs to be supported across all activities, upstream, downstream, and cross-stream.
Issue #6: Eight Predictions from 2040 (December 2021)
This forward-looking issue captured a pivotal moment as we emerged from pandemic disruption. The core insight resonates deeply with thanksgiving themes: individuals are making decisions based on feelings, seeking out what feels right for them in personal and professional situations, all of which comes from a new foundation and the striving for balance, convenience, safety, and quality of experiences. People are curating their communities (work, friends, family) and how they spend time in an intentional manner. The newsletter observes that after two years of unanticipated market flux and pervasive anxiety, leaders of organizations have taken a pause and reassessed organizational strategies with a new focus on the human factor. This recognition of the need for relationships with individuals representing the workforce, customers, and constituencies is key to sustained success. As we give thanks this week, we’re reminded that the pandemic taught us valuable lessons about what truly matters: relationships, genuine appreciation, and the intentional curation of our communities and how we spend our time.
Issue #7: Back to Basics: Small Moments of Beauty (December 2022)
Sometimes the most profound changes come from the simplest insights. This issue offered “provocative ideas that can improve the outlooks and aspirations of your workforce” through the concept of going back to the future with small moments of beauty. The premise is straightforward: we often become so focused on the day-to-day grind that we don’t notice what’s around us. We stress the importance of looking outside in, a reverse perspective from being mired in the hot mess of our lives trapped in our own version of reality. Thanksgiving itself is a small moment of beauty, a pause in the calendar that asks us to notice what we might otherwise overlook. The issue reminds us that transformation and success don’t always require massive initiatives or complex strategies. Sometimes they require the wisdom to pause, notice the small moments of beauty around us, and let those observations inform how we move forward. This holiday week, take time to notice those moments. They matter more than we think.
In Gratitude
These seven issues share a common thread: they recognize that successful organizations are built on human connections, shared purposes, courage, and the willingness to pause and reflect on what truly matters. As you gather with family, friends, and colleagues this Thanksgiving week, we invite you to revisit these explorations of the human factor in organizational life.
We’re grateful for readers like you who engage with these ideas, challenge assumptions, and work to create organizations where people can thrive. Your commitment to understanding the psychology of transformation, to honoring the human factor, and to building communities of shared purpose makes all the difference.
From all of us at 2040 Digital, we wish you a Thanksgiving filled with connection, reflection, gratitude, and those small moments of beauty that remind us why this work matters.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Each of these Issues and Innovations newsletters is available in full at our archive. We invite you to dive deeper into any that resonate with your current organizational challenges and opportunities.
Want to explore how these principles apply to your organization? Contact us to discuss transformation readiness, shared purpose alignment, or building cultures of belonging and courage.
Go Deeper: Subscribe to the Human Factor Podcast where we explore the grief cycles, discuss experiences of loss and professional identity, resistance, and acceptance during organizational change and the tactics and strategies that help.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to the Human Factor Podcast, find it on your favorite podcast platform. Over the first 8 episodes, Kevin has covered frameworks and strategies to mitigate and contend/strategize how to change and transform. It’s destination business strategy listening!
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For more insights on navigating transformation in today’s complex business environment, explore our archive of “Ideas and Innovations” newsletters or pick up a copy of The Truth About Transformation.
The Truth About Transformation: Why Most Change Initiatives Fail (And How Yours Can Succeed)
Why do 70% of organizational transformations fail?
The brutal truth: It’s not about strategy, technology, or resources. Organizations fail because they fundamentally misunderstand what drives change—the human factor.
While leaders obsess over digital tools, process improvements, and operational efficiency, they’re missing the most critical element: the psychological, behavioral, and cultural dynamics that actually determine whether transformation takes hold or crashes and burns.
The 2040 Framework reveals what really works:
- Why your workforce unconsciously sabotages change (and how to prevent it)
- The hidden biases that derail even the best-laid transformation plans
- How to build psychological safety that accelerates rather than impedes progress
- The difference between performative change and transformative change that sticks
This isn’t theory—it’s a battle-tested playbook. We’ve compiled real-world insights from organizations of all sizes, revealing the elements that comprise genuine change. Through provocative case studies, you’ll see exactly how transformations derail—and more importantly, how to ensure yours doesn’t.
What makes this different: While most change management books focus on process and tools, The Truth About Transformation tackles the messy, complex, utterly human reality of organizational change. You’ll discover why honoring, respecting, and acknowledging the human factor isn’t just nice—it’s the difference between transformation and expensive reorganization.
Perfect for: CEOs, change leaders, consultants, and anyone tired of watching transformation initiatives fizzle out despite massive investment.
Now available in paperback—because real transformation requires real understanding.
Ready to stop failing at change? Your organization’s future depends on getting this right.
