Announcing the What Works Institute
I’ve never truly been interested in anything except what’s beyond the next horizon.
Ever since I was a child, this has been my chief mode of both work and play. One of my earliest memories is of the long after-school pursuit of the final level of Super Mario Bros., and of becoming instantly and permanently bored with it thereafter. This is a pattern that has since replicated itself many times over, to the point that I no longer finish most of the games I start because I know that they will end.
In a similar vein, one of the books I best remember reading in middle school (which was far too early, for the parents reading this) is William Gibson’s Neuromancer.
Amidst the trappings of evil AI and computers implanted in brainstems and razor-sharp fingernail modifications, Gibson makes a number of incredibly compelling observations. The most critical of them, to me, at least, is:
“The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.”
What is that if not a thesis statement for the modern age? I’ve referenced it before, unartfully, on stage (oops), before I really had figured out what I was trying to say.
But now I know how to formulate it – that disparities, imbalances, systems and processes, despite our best efforts (and sometimes because of our worst), get the in the way of access – to everything, safety & health included.
So what if we could distribute the future faster and more intentionally?
What if we knew we needed to study the most advanced in the field to understand what makes it all work?
What if we spent the majority of our time digging deep into that, validating it, stress-testing it, building it back up, looking at it in various contexts, industries, and environments?
What if we involved you in it directly?
What if we made the insights and practices we discovered available, at scale, faster than we’ve ever been able to before?
I would say that’s a pretty good vision of the future, and one that will probably keep me occupied for a while, because we’re not there quite yet. But I’m writing today to announce that I’m building it, together, with a bunch of people I really love and cherish working for and with.
It’s called the What Works Institute for Environmental, Health & Safety.
We want to help you solve for the most complex and challenging issues you have. But beyond that, we want you to be involved. We’re a community-driven, expert-led, technology-accelerated think tank. A working lab for the future of EHS.
We already have a lot of cool things for you to check out.
We hope you want to see what’s next, too.
