271: Deborah Westphal — Let’s Build a Human-Centric Future

Aug 4, 2021

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What is a human-centric business? For business owners that want to scale and grow, they have to move away from a purely systems and process structure and focus on the human element. The biggest resource drain in any organization is its people. They are hard to predict, and sometimes difficult to manage. Today’s guest has some insights on how to position yourself for an uncertain future.

Deborah Westphal’s career spans more than 30 years and she has worked closely with government agencies and Fortune 100 companies on virtually every continent. In 1999, Alvin Toffler tapped her as one of the founding members of his eponymous consulting firm. A passionate humanist and life-long learner, she has guided leaders to challenge biases, ignite ideas, and build resilience for a secure future for organizations including Lockheed Martin, Marriott, the U.S. Air Force, Bayer, Microsoft, NASA, and more.

Deborah grew up working with her hands and fixing things, whether that be houses or cars. This sparked a love for building things and she knew she wanted to be an engineer of some kind when she grew up. Her path led her to the Air Force, an organization that she dedicated 13 years to, and then she became passionate about the business of making things.

Through Deborah’s findings, she decided to write a book with the premise of exploring how organizations have been built over the last few decades. There has always been a priority on efficiency and effectiveness, but the human element seemed to have slipped by the wayside.

Although that might have worked a few decades ago, with the rapid pace of our technology, leaders are faced with unique challenges and it requires more than streamlined efficiency to solve those challenges. If anything, our current working model is broken and we need to embrace a new era of business: the human side.

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