WILL™ WORKiNG THE LIFE – LAB

About us

WiLL^© is a project conceived and created by Cesare Grisi, Ph.D. Unless stated otherwise, he holds the trademark, copyright and intellectual property rights to the academic content and training plans provided in the study and work contexts.

WiLL^© works together with a capillary network of scholars and professionals. Selected according to the project specifics and the particular skills required, they contribute to the depth and richness of the analyzes and the implementational practices provided in the context of study and work.

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WiLL©. Why

WiLL^© is underpinned by a complex world view.

A broad range of studies and experiences that cut across the various fields of investigation and activities converge to constitute the Permanent Laboratory, consolidating the awareness that, today, work is never – or very rarely – a means for the affirmation of the individual, the development of human civilization or respect for the environment.

This problem exists both on a personal level – due to a lack of cognitive and cultural tools – and on a social level – the logic driving society pursues other objectives, and reveals itself as inhibitory, a disincentive to its adoption by individuals, as well as irresponsible with regard to social repercussions and sustainability issues.

Here, work, which represents more than half of our existence in terms of time, becomes something other than what it should be.

Will©. What is

WiLL^© is a Permanent Laboratory for the study and development of application-oriented solutions for relationships and issues inherent in the Life-Work relationship. It is multidisciplinary and comparative by nature, and relates theory to practice.

The theoretical branch is an incubator and developer of interdisciplinary studies (social, economic, philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, anthropological, evolutionary…) that analyze history, the status quaestionis and the trends, and contribute to achieving the Vision.

The practical branch acts on the de facto world of work and on the social world, and seeks to understand and solve the key issues. These issues arise in a circular manner and intersect with the different levels of life: personal, working and social.

WiLL©. WHAT FOR (AIMS)

WiLL’s^© ultimate objective of is to make its own fundamental contribution to reestablishing a culture of human action, capable of reorienting work in a direction that allows it to express the latest, most advanced universal values of human civilization, while respecting the natural context in which it acts.

It is in fact possible – though far from certain – to engage in work that helps individuals find, express and refine the special potential with which Mother Nature has endowed every human being.

And it is a logical consequence that, when it is well-focused, individual self-determination is the fundamental pillar in the development of human civilization, and therefore of society.

Will©. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES

WiLL’s^© strong point is its inclusive, cross-disciplinary approach, both on a theoretical and on a practical level.

Only a complex vision can generate systemic solutions that are not merely for the benefit of one party.

Starting from scientific evidence and a delineation of the empirical background to the actual situation, the analyzes and activities developed firmly take into account the most important element: human potential, our ability to creatively and intelligently develop ourselves and our world.

The greatest revolution brought about by the species Homo Sapiens as a result of our intelligence and our consequent capacity for reflective and symbolic thought is the so-called Ethical Counter-Evolution. Ethics has changed the very meaning of life, turning economic logic into a logic of sharing. Ethics introduces the meaning of life and a prioritizing of that which is other than the self.

Thus, we stand on the threshold of a new beginning, which sees life itself as a relative value, and our actions towards others (source of meaning) as a foundation for self-determination.

WiLL^© has understood this development, and works to promote this new visionary stage of human evolution, which is already underway, albeit sporadically, and is far from fully organized.

CUSTOMS OF THE MARKET

Generally, these are market participants (business schools, corporate training, consultancy …) who define strategies and implement interventions in the workplace:

They are economic entities, active in the same market with the same objectives of profit and positioning, and consequently adopt an economic logic aimed at minimizing time and expenses, and maximizing profit.
They act in the box, i.e. they operate in the same market context and for the same purposes, and the market obviously acts on these operators with the same levers. Their sole objective is to reinforce every client’s dream: to squeeze out and maximize profit. They subscribe to the same logic that causes the problems, so they cannot possibly bring about genuine innovation since they reiterate the pre-existing logic instead of questioning it (the Easter Island effect).
Finally, they consciously and methodologically develop strategies and techniques based on the logic of cause and effect (if you do A you get B) derived from so-called success cases, which perversely reinforces the system. Such techniques and strategies tend towards an objective that is almost never (also) systemic.

WiLL’s© POLICY

ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE. Within the defined context, WiLL^© always acts in the interests of both a social objective (addressing the development of civilization and human society) and an individual objective (which has a positive impact for individuals).

FEE. When WiLL^© acts for a fee, it does not allow itself to be influenced by the intentions and purposes of the client, while taking into consideration its actual needs. Then, it analyzes, studies, produces and acts focusing mainly on the most important macro-criterion: to pursue, as far as is humanly possible, that which is true, improving its functionality with respect to society and individuals. It is taken for granted that this is also the client’s ultimate objective. This action criterion is the guarantee of WiLL’s^©neutrality, objectivity, transversal incisiveness and its mission, which is to tackle the problems from the root to achieve a universal, absolute objective detached from the narrow constraints of economic law and profit. Profit is that which exaggerates the appropriate price, as desired. As a result, it is a non-mathematical consequence, and depends on the fairness of the supply chain that precedes it (as well as on contingent situations): WiLL^© applies this criterion both to itself and to its clients in the interaction.

TIME FACTOR. WiLL^© is aware that time is a determining factor – to be optimized but not sacrificed – for understanding and critically sharing phenomena, for change and for achieving new effects (results).

RESULTS. The results cannot therefore be completely predetermined: one crucial aspect of WiLL^© is that it freely analyzes without having to achieve a predetermined objective, since this can undermine the objective validity of the study of phenomena, which can become a self-confirming loop in practice. By applying rigorous logic to the analysis of the problem as systematically as possible, with the underlying objective of solving the problem, WiLL’s^© intervention is aimed first at understanding, and only then at correction. This makes it manifestly and elementarily evident that predetermining the result is very often a starting error that, following a transient hint of change, ends in a return to the problem and stasis. That’s why WiLL^© does not consider the immediate, monadic results of business (profit) so much as its more forward-looking, all-embracing Eco-System.

CRITICAL ASPIRATION. WiLL^© is aware that it is impossible to achieve such a paradigm shift without prior cognitive, analytical, dialectic and critical activity.

For this reason, it carries out two activities simultaneously (theoretical and practical), so that the two experiences can interface and reshape the starting point, raising its level with each new theoretical elaboration and, therefore, with each practical action.

Vision, mission, values

Vision

WiLL’s^© Vision is one of cooperation, of dedicating its skills, competences, intuitions and knowledge to the development of a Civilization able to redefine the crucial role of work in the human forum (thereby redefining the meaning of living itself), and orient it towards enhancing the two pillars of the priceless heritage with which the Human Species is endowed: intelligence and ethics. This approach also promotes respect for other living creatures and the environment.

MISSION

THEORY. To study the social structure, individual needs and the function of work in the current context in order to highlight and suggest corrections to the distortions that make work a tool contrary to human logic and unsustainable with respect to environmental logic. WiLL^© aims to share and develop these ideas in an open context, with local, national and international centers for the critical development of thought.

PRACTICE-APPLICATION. To apply the latest findings from research in a real (operational, working, social) context, in order to make its actions and, in turn, the organizations in which it has acted, effective, up-to-date and consistent with the respective organization. Intervention in the application field means intervention with all types of stakeholders, without limitation: national, international, public, private, profit, non-profit, individuals or groups. Anyone can work with WiLL^© according to their particular needs, and with the certainty that the analyses and solutions discussed will be current, and enhanced with the latest theoretical-practical know-how aimed at achieving a shared, systemic benefit.

Values

WiLL^© believes in the sacred value of human freedom: freedom of thought, expression, action, criticism, opposition and freedom to realize one’s own potential. Despite the difficulties associated with the cost of living, it believes that human beings must be able to access their own intimate sphere with appropriate analytical tools, and realize their potential in a social context that is openly structured on these freedoms and talents, on the basis of the Ethical Revolution.

Work is therefore understood in a visionary way as intrinsic to Life itself – a means and an end at the same time – oriented to the meaning of living, to human and social becoming. Working the Life, therefore, means realizing potential and accessing the sphere of well-being. This is a much more comprehensive and systemic concept than the elitist, pyramidal nature of profit.

But with regard to living expenses, Work is not understood tout court as the primary element compared to the other pillars of the human sphere: the social, the sentimental, friendships, the passions that could never develop into professional activities… It can have modular value, depending on the circumstances; and it can be ancillary, equivalent, or have a primary function with respect to the other spheres. In any case, on a systemic level, its value is decisive. Based on tangible evidence, including in the current situation, the personal and systemic levels can coexist in a virtuous symbiosis in which the economic element, which has its own crucial function, must not dominate. From this, it is clear that WiLL^© has been conceived and functions to liberate work from the task of providing for mere survival.

WiLL^© believes in up-to-date knowledge, free and accessible to all, because the interaction can evolve and develop the initial statement and free one from standardization, which serves to control individuality. From where will aspirations that can become actions or new knowledge spring if not from knowledge?

Without fanaticism and absolutization, then, WiLL^© believes in the fundamental positivity of human nature, because it believes in the Ethical Counter-Evolution: the most profound and complex revolution of the human evolutionary path, enacted in spite of the laws of nature, of which human nature is also a part. From this point of view, the story is yet to be written. WiLL^© wants to play its part in this new future.

The founder

Cesare Grisi, PhD

“HR director, company manager, consultant, university lecturer, director of skills development centers, certified trainer (public and private), founder of a permanent laboratory on the meaning of life and work, essayist, interdisciplinary scholar, graduate, PhD: mine is the structured path of an outsider.

Yes, it is crucial to train and carry out professional work in structured and multinational environments, but it is in the objective that gives direction and that motivates the individual steps that the true, non-canonical path takes form in parallel, which leads elsewhere. Just as in a mosaic, it is the overall design that determines the meaning and function of each individual tile.

And the real path, the main road, is the long path to knowledge: if it is anything, a career is a means for getting into real work”.