Inspirations from Paris 🌟
Imagining a World Where Humans Come First
What if we designed our lives (and our organizations) around the radical idea that people matter more than production?
I recently spent time in Paris, and I was struck not just by the beauty of preserved time and by the rhythm. There, I witnessed a culture where policies and social norms often align with human well-being; lingering lunches, clear boundaries between work and life, and a general respect for leisure. It made me wonder: What would happen if we stopped treating "human-first" as a luxury and started treating it as the standard?
🧠The Brain Science
Environment shapes cognition. This is known as scaffolding. When we live in environments (or work cultures) that prioritize relentless output, our brains stay in a state of hyper-vigilance. However, when we are in environments that scaffold well-being through mandatory breaks, disconnect rights, or community focus, our parasympathetic nervous system becomes the default. This leads to higher creativity, deeper empathy, and better problem-solving. In the silence, you make connections; in the breaks, you access creativity; in the rest, you cultivate well-being.
🎯What LBA Elevates
Love Before All elevates imagination. We often accept the grind because "that's just how it is." LBA challenges us to look at systems like those I saw in Paris and ask, "Why not us?" It elevates the belief that we can restructure our teams, families, and schedules to center the human experience.
LBA imagines and advocates for a world where access to quality education, healthcare, housing, and healthy food are “human rights”; a world where all children are in rich environments filled with skillfully regulated adults regardless of the neighborhoods in which they are born.
🌟Leadership Practice: The "Policy of Permission"
You may not be able to change national laws today, but you can change your micro-culture.
The "Unplugged" Lunch: Institute a norm where lunch is for eating and connecting, not for working.
Boundaries as Policy: Explicitly state that emails sent after hours do not require a response until the next day. Make rest a policy, not a perk.
🥀The Invitation
Let yourself dream this week. Look at your calendar and ask: Which of these appointments serves the system, and which serves the human? If we want a human-first world, we must be the ones to start building it, one choice at a time.
With courage and possibility,
