Why do people dislike working in corporate environments? I have limited space here so I'll focus on one particular component: dehumanization.

Case in point: I have a friend who found the perfect job a few years back, one that leveraged his unique capabilities in a way that most any traditional corporate role would fail to harness. But as the years have progressed and the company has grown, his role has been homogenized into something a mere shadow of what he was hired to do. In doing so, the company has failed to capture untold value by not allowing this guy to do his best, most productive, and most valuable work.

We've all seen the internal HR memos talking about how "our company leverages the unique and valuable skills of everyone in the organization", while at the same time management works to homogenize teams into like-minded chat bots that make decisions in a uniform manner. The irony is ripe and not lost on employees.

The challenge is that the world is getting turned upside down such that companies that are unable to leverage the humanity of their employees are going to miss the mark on the reasons for having employees in the first place.

Humans are born to be decision makers, making instantaneous judgements about priority, severity, duration, effort, and outcome from the moment we wake up. We're so good at it, in fact, that this incredible technology we're building is based on mimicking everything that we do.

We're rapidly approaching a world where decision-making is the only quality differentiating humans from technology. AI will do research and analysis while AI + robotics will accommodate many or most labor tasks. Seemingly there's not much value left for humans to capture in this upcoming world, except for the fact that technology isn't human and therefore will never know the human experience. Almost all business, at its core, is based on understanding the human experience.

To get through the next phase of technological growth, companies that dehumanize (intentionally or not) will need to re-invent how they think about the workforce if they want to stay relevant. Rather than teaching employees how to push buttons and take actions within specific guidelines, they'll need to teach sound decision-making strategies and empower employees to succeed.

And fail.

And that's the rub where it falls apart for so many corporations. The downside of mistakes is minimized at the expense of the upside of humanity's potential. They forget that to make an omelet you need to break a few eggs.

The companies that excel at this next stage are going to build a deep understanding of a few fundamental precepts:

• The reason we hire employees is because they're human
• Employees learn in different ways
• Employees have different skills
• Employees are most fulfilled when they are productive
• Productivity requires applying what we've learned and activating our skills
• Therefore, building an organization that maximizes the value of humanity requires tailoring employees' work to the learning style and skillsets that best fits each individual

The days of insert-person-A-into-slot-B are receding. Any company taking that approach will be better off finding a technological solution. Want to make use of that autonomous bag of meat over there? Go get to know them and fit the job to them, not the other way around.