This document discusses the concept of human-centered organizations. It describes three trends that have led to this model: 1) considering social and environmental impacts in addition to profits via the "triple bottom line"; 2) designing products and services around consumer needs through techniques like design thinking; and 3) how digital technologies have empowered both consumers and workers. The document then examines three "journeys" that human-centered organizations focus on: the consumer journey to provide personalized experiences, the citizen journey to create shared social value, and the co-worker journey to develop employee creativity and autonomy through techniques like flexible work policies and internal social networks.

1. 1HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
Human Centred
Organisations
A world powered
by people

2. 2
We are part time consumers,
part time employees, citizens,
parents, children, lovers, and
hackers.
Good Rebels Manifesto
goodrebels.com/manifesto

3. 3HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
Individuals first,
organisations second
Along with incredible advances in productivity
and efficiency, the industrialisation of modern
society and the increasing prevalence of
large corporations also brought with it an
increase in bureaucracy. The 20th Century saw
both the rise and fall of Collectivist thought,
and nowadays we’re surrounded by mega-
corporations supported by the unmotivated
masses.
While their existence has benefited the consumer
greatly in terms of the reduced price of certain
goods and services, the social impact of these
corporate giants is far more complex.
In the beginning, corporations were established for the sole
purpose of generating capital. They have since evolved and are
now more concerned with efficiency, first at the commercial level
and later at an industrial one.

4. 4
In his book, Lo que ahora importa, Gary Hamel
questions the role of these organisations in wider
society. We are used to organisations hiring the
individuals most likely to help generate value for
their shareholders (organisation > individual
> profit). Company first, people second. Hamel
proposes an exercise to the reader: what
would happen if the model were reversed? If
organisations put themselves at the service of
people, rather than shareholders, in order to
make a real impact on society (individuals >
organisations > impact)? This idea is not new;
in fact, it’s just one of three business trends that
have come together in recent years to form, what
we at Good Rebels call, the “Human Centred
Organisation.” Let’s explore these three trends in
more detail.
Triple Bottom Line
This first trend goes by several different names,
and there are many theoretical and practical
approaches that share the same starting point,
approaches we will explore more in a later
section of this study. After 40 years of capitalist
stronghold, and a mainstream business culture
that revolved around the shareholder - a culture
fiercely defended by economists such as Milton
Friedman and management experts such as
Michael Porter - the academic community
began to question whether or not the
shareholder should be considered legal owner of
the corporations they’d invested in.
The majority of today’s experts in
management argue that companies
should be engaging with society and, at
the same time, delivering value to their
investors. Business models based on ‘the
Triple Bottom Line’ (profit, people, planet)
demonstrate the importance of focusing on
both shareholder and society, generating
economic and societal value.
Human centred design
As the capacity for production increased and
competition in almost all industries doubled,
consumer power continued to grow. According
to a number of authorities, we now find ourselves
facing a new form of capitalism, one which
provides the consumer with the power to govern
the market, and even individual businesses,
stealing control from shareholders. The
obsession large digital technology companies
have with developing products and services with

5. 5HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
the user in mind (think Google and Apple) has
elevated them right to the top.
As consumer power grew traditional disciplines,
like ergonomics, were forced to evolve. In the
1980s and 90s this evolution gave way to Design
Thinking, a methodology which utilised the minds
of designers (industrial, architectural...etc.) in
order to solve complex problems.
Digitalisation
Digitalisation has made available to
citizens technologies that previously
did not exist or that had required huge
economic investment and were not
commercially viable. Citizens are now able
to coordinate amongst themselves, confront
large public or private organisations and win,
just like David and Goliath.
Wikipedia, Bitcoin, Kiva and Khan Academy
have all embraced the digitalisation
revolution. They use Blockchain as a model, a
technology that goes against everything large
corporations once stood for.
Trends within Human Centred Organisations
• EFQM (European
Foundation for Quality
Management)
• CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility)
• Shared Value (see
Michael Porter)
• Design Thinking
• Consumer experience
• Digital Start-ups
• Social Networks
• P2P Technology

6. 6
The demand for an improved consumer
experience has forced us to reconsider our
sales processes and channels, as well as the
way in which we communicate in order to build
brand loyalty and establish relationships with
our customers. We need to remove corporate
barriers, tear down and rebuild the functional
structures within our organisation, in order
to introduce a digital culture which, once
established, will revolutionise the way in which
work and collaborate with others.
Corporations will have to adapt in order to
survive in an environment dominated by
disruptive technological start-ups. This, in
parallel with our increasing obsession with
the Internet of Things, data production and
exploitation, will trigger a rise in social enterprise.
Additionally, the level of trust in large corporations
has hit an all time low . Citizens demand
transparency and a commitment to positive
social change. And so startups like Provenance
are thriving; they now offer technology
(blockchain and mobile) that provides consumer
product traceability at the point of sale, certifying
transactions made throughout the supply chain.
These three trends underlie the concept of
the human hentred organisation. Human
centred organisations (HCOs) are obsessed
with the consumer, worker and citizen journey.
The consumer journey is the most well known,
but the worker journey is attracting more and
more attention and has been the subject of
a number of different studies in the field of
business theory. The third journey, that of the
citizen, encompasses all those who do not
fit within the first or second journey; it follows
ordinary citizens and the relationships they
have with organisations, partner organisations,
collaborators (universities, NGOs...etc.),
entrepreneurs, researchers, etc.

7. 7HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
C
Z W
The Consumer Journey
Putting the consumer and consumer
experiences at the centre
The Citizen Journey
Building shared value
The Co-Worker Journey
Developing internal creativity
and creating links

8. 8
Love is the secret force behind
human centred organisations
Good Rebels Manifesto
goodrebels.com/manifesto

9. 9HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
The Consumer
Journey
Of the three journeys we’ve
discussed, the consumer journey
is the easiest to understand.
Understanding the consumer
journey allows us to promote
consumer awareness and provide
our audiences with unique and
personalised experiences.
It is obvious, therefore, and
generally agreed upon that in this
highly demanding and informed
consumer environment, the
commercial success of a company
is largely dependent on the extent
to which they understand their
customers, as well as their ability
to provide them with products and
services adapted to suit their needs.
1

10. 10
From advertising to
experience
In the 1960s, the television reigned supreme;
it was the most effective advertising medium.
Advertising was a tool used by corporations
to maintain a certain level of control over the
market, but with the introduction of the Internet,
everything changed. Traditional advertising
(controlled by the company) gave way to
“online recommendations” (decentralised by
millions of people). Online recommendation; the
phenomenon behind the success of Tripadvisor,
Yelp, Google Maps, eBay and Amazon.
For over 100 years, investment in advertising has
remained stagnant, somewhere between 1-1.25%
of the United State’s GDP. Over the last 6 years
that number has dropped to 0.95%, a trend
which makes clear the decreasing effectiveness
of traditional advertising.
This, coupled with the increasing influence of
online recommendation on purchasing decisions
made by the consumer, has resulted in a greater
emphasis being put on user experience and
product and service design. Globalisation and
technological progress has provided us with
cheap, more readily available resources with
which to reduce competitive barriers.
Digitilisation has also made it easier to replicate
products and services; everything is a lot easier to
copy, and so consumer experience and product
design is more important than ever.
Source: Zenith/IMF

11. 11HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
Design centred around
people and ergonomics
The corporate world’s obsession with designing
products and solutions from the point of view
of the consumer has elevated designers and
psychologists to the status of kings. This pursuit of
perfect design and usability, driven by people like
Steve Jobs, is now the simplest way a corporation
can differentiate themselves, something that is
increasingly difficult to do when relying on other
factors like price or recognisability.
This boom in design thinking not only allows
corporations to adapt more efficiently to
the needs of an increasingly demanding
consumer, but also facilitates the application
of this methodology to the definition of the
consumer experience throughout its entire
life cycle. The company can keep the consumer
on their toes, anticipating their needs and
surprising them with personalised products and
services.
Initially, companies like Starbucks were focused
on defining new experiences for consumer
groups, rather than individuals. Thanks to big
data, we can now achieve excellence on an
individual level, and companies like Amazon are
leading the way.

12. 12
Beyond the consumer
journey: personalisation
and big data
The consumer journey conveys the
experience of a customer or consumer
throughout the different phases that
occur during an interaction between an
individual and a brand, product or service.
If the interaction is positive from the outset, it
will most likely lead to consideration, conversion
and subsequent recommendation. However, if it
is negative, the individual may dismiss or reject
the brand entirely, refusing to consider any other
goods or services offered.
This map of the consumer journey is the main tool
used by companies to define which experiences
drive decision-making. However, we now find
ourselves at a crossroads, due in large part to
the impact of big data. It’s becoming increasingly
common to find commercial solutions in a more
personalised approach based on purchase
history or behaviour, made possible by advances
in technology. To this end, it is essential that we
gather as much information about the consumer
as possible, something that can only be achieved
by rewarding consumers for supplying us with
that information. If the data received through the
consumer’s omnichannel experience is properly
analysed, predictive models based on artificial
intelligence will determine next steps, allowing
corporations to personalise communication,
commercial offerings and the consumer
experience as a whole.
The objective of all this, is to optimise consumer
value, establish an enduring relationship, and
maximise commercial and emotional ties. This
can only be achieved through a relationship that
is both honest and transparent, one in which the
consumer is satisfied at all times.

13. 13HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
The Co-Worker
Journey
2
We know that the success of a company is dependent on the extent
to which they understand the needs of their consumers; now more
and more companies are becoming aware of the need to understand,
facilitate and promote the relationship between brand and collaborator,
their most essential asset. Collaboration and innovation are both
necessary in order to optimise the co-worker journey.

14. 14
Along with a growth in consumer power, an
oversaturated labour market and an increasing
number of self-employed workers have brought
with them new challenges. Companies are
desperate to attract young talent; they’re aware
that people are their best asset. The term
‘people first’ has been overused almost to the
point of meaninglessness, but the reality is - the
level of employee disaffection is high.
Traditional organisations, those that are
still familiar to us today, have for centuries
defined their own relatively successful business
models, capable of releasing the greatest
number of goods and services to market
and selling them at the lowest possible cost.
This model is possible thanks to three key
factors: a systematic division of labour, the
standardisation of processes and a strong
hierarchical structure.
However, a digital tsunami is coming, and we’re
going to have to confront economic and social
environments that are far more competitive,
complex and chaotic than those that resulted
from the Industrial Revolution. It was this
Revolution that gave rise to the most well known
20th century companies and corporations.
We live in a fast-paced, hyperconnected and
incredibly competitive world, in which complete
control and sluggish bureaucracy no longer
have a place. Society demands an agile and
innovative organisational response, we can no
longer rely on blind faith.

15. HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS 15
Cooperation and creativity cannot flourish within
a highly standardised organisation, where talent
and passion are filed away under the label of
Human Resources, strangled by long-standing
corporate paternalism. The great corporate
injustice of our time is that only 20% of employees
around the world feel committed to their work,
and less than 40% identify with the culture and
values of their company.
Lack of alignment means loss of profit, and in
terms of opportunity lack of alignment leads to
failure and irrelevancy, regardless of any previous
record of success.
Happiness at work
When it comes to leadership and people
management, the most important question
we need to ask ourselves is how best we can
achieve ‘intrinsic’ motivation, a kind of motivation
that instills employees with the passion and
willingness to innovate.
Research has shown that over the last 40
years, past a certain point, more money no
longer motivates us. It does not make us
better, or more efficient workers. Despite this,
companies continue to offer more money and
other extrinsic rewards in order to attract and
retain employees. Daniel Pink has proposed a
three axis framework as a guide for companies
looking to motivate their employees: establish
an exciting purpose, stimulate autonomy and
encourage professional development.
Companies that
seek to foment this
‘entrepreneurial’ culture
must first:
1) Establish a vision, a place in the world
2) Encourage personal and professional
development
3) Give their employees the authority to
make their own decisions and to develop
their own ideas within the context of the
collective mission

16. 16
At Good Rebels, we believe that working
alongside stimulating, inspired colleagues, ready
to help each other succeed, is in line with Pink’s
framework.
When it comes to happiness at work, what feeling
better defines humanity than love? Love has
been a source of happiness and one of the pillars
upon which social relationships have been built
throughout history. However, love in the workplace
is not usually expected.
We said in #Leadertarians that in order to retain
talent and encourage innovation in the workplace,
many startups and digital organisations allow
their employees free reign, establishing a culture
of ‘internal entrepreneurship’, or ‘intrapreneurship’
where employees are free to pursue their own
projects and develop their own ideas, which in
turn benefits the company. This same line of
thinking eventually led to Google famous ‘20%
time’ policy. Google’s liberated the ‘googlers’
and allowed them to spend 20% of their time
developing their own personal projects, which
were then promoted by the organisation.
The Empowered Employee
Just like the iPhone which, despite initial
backlash, was eventually adopted by the
organisational masses, beating out Blackberry in
terms of popularity, these new organic methods
of management will eventually gain widespread
appeal, taking the place of traditional systems of
management.
Meritocracy will win out against hierarchical
authority. Increased access to information
will eliminate the need for functional silos.
Decentralised organisations will reduce the
amount of unnecessary bureaucracy, the kind
that limits individual freedoms and frustrates
employees. Lack of sovereignty will set the most
intrapraneurial spirits and the most brilliant minds
free, thereby creating a need for new procedures
designed to keep order, sending us spinning into
a vicious cycle.
An internal social network can be set up to
improve knowledge and information management,
thanks to the constant flow of conversation
between collaborators. Serendipity will enrich the
exchange of ideas, the social network will become
both a source of innovation - connecting different

17. 17HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
teams and collaborators, and a tool to improve
productivity - speeding up the time it takes to
reach a solution or access support.
But when we think of what bonds employees to
the place in which they work, we cannot think only
about technology, but also mental frameworks.
Not allowing employees to work from home is an
endemic evil, so we keep working hour systems,
made popular during the Industrial Revolution.
Increased flexibility is a step in the right direction.
At Good Rebels we’ve already committed to
policies of unlimited holiday, freedom from
schedules, and teleworking. These things have
been a reality at Good Rebels for years, and they
compliment our policy of absolute transparency
where all Rebels have a presence within
management committees and where we all
decide which of our colleagues most deserves a
raise in salary.
But empowerment doesn’t work from top
to bottom; empowerment is a bottom-up
activity. The digitisation of our environment
provides us with countless tools for day-to-
day management, tools which make reliance
on hierarchy unnecessary. Employees are
capable of more autonomy, flexibility and self-
management.

18. 18
Self-management
Despite the fact that the newest generation
is calling out for meritocracy, the number of
companies adopting self-management as a
management model “contrary to the established
order and status quo” are few and far between.
Companies like Gore, Semco or Whole Foods
Market (acquired by Amazon), Morning Star
(a tomato producer), AES Corporation (an
energy company with 40,000 employees in 31
countries), Southwest Airlines (an American
airline), as well as younger companies such as
Buurtzorg (a Dutch home healthcare company)
and Favi (a French car parts manufacturer),
have already implemented a system of self-
management.
Self-management is not easy to implement
and maintain, especially in more conventional
workplaces, and is often a system rejected by
the directorial elite.
It is strongly democratic; necessitating absolute
financial transparency, a reduction in the
differences between salaries, a reduction in
managerial privileges, teleworking, a lessening of
bureaucracy and procedure, and consensus on
tactical, and occasionally even strategic, decision
making. Self-management elimites middle

19. 19HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
management, treats employees like adults and,
in return, those organisations that implement a
system of self-management can expect a more
passionate, more motivated workforce. You can
order an employee to perform a task, you can’t
order commitment or loyalty.
Crucially, before attempting to implement
a system of self-management, you must
understand the risks involved. Without a
doubt, it is a complex and costly process that
requires an enormous degree of self-discipline.
But the result will be worth it; flexibility,
unrestricted growth, and a holocractic system
where “authority and decision-making are
distributed horizontally.” In the next few decades
implementing this sort of distributed, organic
model of business will be more than necessary
in order to cope with a rapidly changing,
increasingly digitised environment. Leaders of
industry must adapt to survive.
.
Co-creation and internal
collaborative culture
Innovation is a long distance race. It’s not a
tool capable of transforming the average
collaborator into a bona fide genius; it is, first
and foremost, a way of understanding how best
to manage knowledge, a form of leadership
and a system of management built on trust. It’s
learning based on learning.
Innovation involves the implementation of a
combination of different strategies aimed at
facilitating the transfer of knowledge between
employees and, consequently, allowing
innovative thought to flourish.
The greatest tool for inspiring innovation
and competitiveness is tacit knowledge,
that which is stored in our heads and not
saved in a document. That said, this kind of
knowledge is also more difficult to manage.
For this reason, leading organisations have
committed themselves to creating spaces for
socialisation that, in addition to helping build
trust between employees, allow for an exchange
of experiences and ideas. Co-creation, in these
kinds of organisations, is a social rite of passage.
It provides employees with an opportunity to get
to know their peers, figure out who knows what
and where their strengths lie.
Experience has taught us that, sooner or
later, the majority of collective co-generation

20. initiatives fail. The reason for this is that a lot
of these initiatives are planned and built on
the margins of the company’s own internal
ecosystem. They are simple, tactical strategies
with no thought given to continuity, and with no
real intention of altering the way in which the
organisation functions.
With this in mind, we must aim to develop a
broader environment of collaboration within the
company that allows for the agile and effective
distribution of knowledge.
Goodbye
Human Resources,
hello co-worker journey
The role of the Human Resources department
has been called into question since the advent
of the most recent technological revolution. On
one thing we can agree; the HR professional is in
need of renovation.
The new HR
professional will
require a combination
of multidisciplinary
skills:
• Organisation
• Teamwork and leadership
• Internal engagement
• Employee experience
• Analytics or statistics
• Digital solutions
• Reputation of the employer
20

21. 21HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
The Citizen
Journey
The digital age has empowered ordinary people.
These people are not only more demanding, but
more conscious and concerned with transparency,
ethics and commitment to social justice.
3

22. 22
At this point, citizens have
a vague awareness of
the existence of your
organisation. Their
awareness may stem directly
from commercial recognition
of your products and/or
services, or, alternatively,
campaigns, sponsorships
or initiatives related to your
organisation centred around
CSR or social innovation
(Shell’s Eco Marathon, for
example).
The citizen interacts with the
brand in some way. Often
a citizen-led campaign
is capitalised on and
promoted by a brand, taking
advantage of the energy
that has been built up by
citizens. Advances in digital
technology have maximised
the impact of these kinds of
events.
A deeper connection is made
through a relationship with
the consumer. In some cases
the brand acts as a platform
which generates economic
value for the consumer
(a SAP consultant, for
example, or a property owner
advertising through AirBnB). A
more continuous co-creation
relationship might also come
into existence, especially if the
brand is able to develop a
deep, emotional connection
with the consumer through
the values the organisation
represents or stands for.
The citizen journey is much less linear than either of the first two, and involves
three steps: awareness, transaction (the purchase of goods and services or the
hiring of a new employee) and, finally, a ‘happy marriage’ or amicable break up
if things do go wrong. We need citizens to arrive at three different touchpoints
throughout their journey: value, connect and share.
Value Connect Share
The societal value generated by a company in terms of impact and innovation, will often result in
a more robust, long-lasting relationship with the consumer.

23. 23HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
Active or passive citizen?
Throughout the consumer journey, organisations are tasked with improving the ‘suffering
citizen’s’ user experience. The citizen’s journey, conversely, is more concerned with civil society
(the individuals behind the collective) who act autonomously to transform society. Wikipedia,
Bitcoin, Kiva Microloans and Khan Academy are four examples of organisations which rely
on citizens to take the lead in roles previously reserved for governmental bodies or large
corporations. The citizen has control over how they choose to interact with these initiatives:
confront, collaborate or stay neutral? We recommend they act as sponsors or patrons, an
active member of the community.
Social footprint
Our focus should not be on the centralisation of
CSR, but rather on the pursuit of ‘social enterprise’
in an economic environment where consumption
is no longer growing at the same rate, and where
digitally empowered consumers and citizens are
more inclined to reward companies that work to
create ‘shared value’ within society.
Michael Porter, who came up with the concept of
‘shareholder first’, eventually gave up on the idea.
The crisis of 2008 made concepts like ‘conscious
capitalism’, popularised by John Mackey, CEO
of Whole Foods, all the more relevant. Clearly,
capitalism is under review.

24. 24
Social co-creation
and co-participation
Human centred organisations understand
that society is not only the main benefactor of
innovation, but also of co-creation. To innovate
is to commit to an idea that complicates your
own life and to be willing to put your job at risk
to make it a reality.
In the digital world, change is occurring rapidly
and the life cycles of digital technology and
products aimed at helping us understand the
digital world have shortened. Digitalisation is
disruptive and capable of transforming entire
industries. Consequently, we must find a way
to balance efficiency (the mantra of the 20th
century) with innovation (that of the 21st).
To inspire innovation there is no better tool
than engagement. An internal culture that
supports and motivates those within it,
and prioritises transparency, will produce
innovative employees and open itself up to
the most innovative suppliers, partners and
consumers. Co-creation success stories
(Local Motors, MyStarbucksIdea, and the
Procter Gamble Connect Develop platform,
for example) demonstrate the advantages of
remote connection and collaboration.
.
Modules of shared value
HCOs are based on collaborative ecosystems,
open to companies, institutions, organisations,
collectives and individuals that, together, form
a new distributed business model that offers
an alternative, more efficient and sustainable
service to society. This model transforms
the organisation into a platform on which
others can generate wealth. Platforms allow
for a more robust and rapid growth, and a
greater fluidity.
If we were to go one step further and assess
the value contributed to society as a whole, any
company that creates a demand for goods is
beneficial to society. Those goods and services
designed to help eradicate the great evils that
plague us (hunger, disease…) may appear

25. 25HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
more attractive in the eyes of the ordinary
citizen, however a product designed merely
to entertain also fulfills an important function
within society.
Digital giants like Apple, Uber and AirBnB stand
out for having created ecosystems of value.
For instance, Apple has created millions of
jobs for developers through its Store, and
the average car or property owner can now,
effectively, run their own business through
AirBnB or Uber. Similarly, Amazon has opened
up the digital market to small merchants
through its marketplace, Google has created
an advertising platform capable of generating
income for countless numbers of publishers,
and SAP has done the same for consultants.

26. 26
Business Valuation
Why put people at the centre? One could argue
that the survival of the organisation itself is at
stake. Digital titans of industry are more willing
to enter into traditional spaces, and countless
small, technologically innovative startups are well
prepared to compete within very specific niches.
It seems that only through putting people at the
centre, will organisations be able to compete with
these up and comers.
That said, if those you need to convince are more
on skeptical side, we advise you to stay objective
when attempting to justify investing in such
initiatives. Even those who still think that the aim
of an organisation is to maximise shareholder
value, can be convinced by a demonstration of
the positive impact that putting people first will
have on their bottom line.
What are some of the direct and indirect benefits
human centred organisations are having in terms
of brand generation and company value?
Below, we are able to analyse some of the, already
visible, direct and indirect benefits of human-
centricity. These include brand generation and an
increase in the value of the company produced by
both the impact of the other two factors, as well
as the positive valuation that the market is already
achieving with these strategies.
Benefits of the HCO
• Reputation
• Shared value
• Strength
• Conscious consumer
• Open innovation
• Correlation between share price and SRI
policies (socially responsible investment)
• Increased demand for IRS funds
• Awareness investor
• Trust
• More sales (customised
experience, catalogue of
products, more sales...)
• Commercial efficiency
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Talent
• Innovation and Knowledge
• Productivity (commitment
and linkage)
• Efficiency (productivity)
• Multipliers associated with digitisation
• Specific indicators with impact on share
value (customer base, ARPU, EBITDA...)
• Trust
• Key figures associated with HR
• Higher return on funds
Best Place to Work
• Proximity
• Linkage
• Contribution to the
society
• Liability as an
employer
Brand
Consumer
Journey
Co-Worker
Journey
Citizen
Journey

27. HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS 27
They create products and services that are
relevant to the market and society. As they
identify business needs and opportunities, they
try to evaluate whether or not these products
and services will have a long-term positive
impact on society, as with Ford’s Model T or,
more recently, Apple’s iPhone.
They create seamless experiences for
customers, taking ergonomics into
consideration. They understand their client and
work hard to surprise and satisfy them at every
point of contact, whether or not this results in any
immediate commercial return.
They are obsessed with their co-workers, a
harmonious working environment and the
entire employee ecosystem. In other words,
they look to provide employees with the ability
to align their personal interests with those of
their co-workers. They care about values and
demonstrate this through concrete acts of
commitment. They establish a leadership style
and culture which encourages brand loyalty
and commitment to the workplace. They know
that commitment is the driving force behind
innovation, and that innovation is the only
strategy worth pursuing in the digital age. They
work to instill intrinsic motivation through personal
development and increased autonomy. They give
back to their workers in the best way possible.
They work to eradicate bureaucracy
and work past systems and procedures.
They are concerned with maintaining the
minimum amount of structures and procedures
necessary, providing training for employees and
trusting their workforce with more responsibility
and increased autonomy. The carrot is more
effective than the stick.
They’re concerned with the long-term and
the future of our planet. They are capable
of establishing a balance between ethics and
economics. They know that, in the long term, their
investment will be rewarded by the market.
What makes an organisation
human centered?
Human centred organisations prevent shareholders from feeling overwhelmed by
structure. They’re obsessed with the journeys taken by their customers, employees,
partners, and those taken by “citizens”, and so they’re better able to create shared value
for the company shareholders as well as society at large.

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Digital transformation:
the path to HCO
Good Rebel’s Framework for digital transformation
Now we can see how HCOs and the digital revolution go hand-in-hand, and
for this reason we understand that digital transformation not only prepares
organisations to compete within an increasingly digitised environment, but also
that it is the most effective way of putting people at the centre.
DATA - TECHNOLOGY - CREATIVITY
Consumer Intelligence
Customer Experience
Business Performance
Engagement
Experience
Digital Competencies
Leadership
Agile Organisation
Social Footprint
Open Innovation
Co-creation
People-Centred
Business Models
Consumer Journey
Human Centred Organisations
Co-Worker Journey Citizen Journey

29. 29HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
If we take a closer look at the most influential
organisations, as well as those companies with
the highest market capitalisation, we observe
that they all share the same focus on digital
innovation, and each is strong in at least one of
the journeys discussed previously. The market
rewards them, not only for being the companies
with the greatest capacity to generate income
in the immediate future, but also because their
way of working guarantees innovation and rapid
adaptation to consumer demand.
The relationship between digitilisation
and the human centred organisation is
particularly evident when we look at the
consumer’s journey.
We can only fully understand the consumer
through the endless amounts of data they leave
behind across the channels they interact with.
Unique, enjoyable and personalised experiences
can only be achieved through the channels
where the consumer spends the majority of their
time; maximisation of business value is only
achievable if we take complete advantage of
the digital environment.
That’s why, when we think of HCOs, Amazon is
always the first one that comes to mind. This
is due not only to the predictive models of
recommendation they have in place, but also
the unbeatable experience that comes from
that initial recommendation and ends with a
simplified, one-click purchase, fast delivery and
customer service that is hard to beat. When we
aspire to human-centricity, we are all just trying
to be a bit more like Amazon.
The employee is at the centre of the co-
worker journey and it doesn’t really matter
whether the business is traditional or one
going through a digital transformation -
putting the employee first benefits everyone.
That said, the more digitally advanced
organisations will have an easier time
prioritising the employee as the culture that
has been put in place, and the digital tools
already at their disposal, will help facilitate
the implementation of this kind of system.
Google is relevant both in terms of its brand,
its approach to the workplace, and the way it
relies on its employees as a source of innovative

30. 30
thought. When modern organisations propose
modernisation and transformation of the working
culture, they’re looking to achieve something
similar and it’s obvious that digitalisation plays a
big role in all of this.
It’s also evident that the current phenomenon
of the ‘empowered citizen’ would not have been
possible without social networks and digital
communication. And so it seems difficult to
imagine that any initiative aimed at citizens as
a whole could be carried out without involving
these channels.
The digital environment facilitates the analysis
of the citizen’s digital footprint, while providing us
with the tools necessary to stimulate co-creation
or to launch citizen-led campaigns. However, in
the end we return to the organisations who, by
employing a culture of openness and innovation,
are developing some of the most outstanding
initiatives in their field. It is clear that the
companies that are having the greatest impact
on our society are those who are most digitally
inclined, such as Uber, AirBnB and Tesla.
We can conclude that the outcome of digital transformation is
a kind of company culture where digitisation and innovative
thought predominate, and also that this kind of culture is
achieved only through putting people - the consumer,
the collaborator, the citizen - at the centre of all we do.

31. 31HUMAN CENTRED ORGANISATIONS
We work at the intersection of people brands and technology; creating rich consumer experiences
and challenging our clients to innovate and transform.
Clients: Toyota, Spotify, Amadeus, Ikea, Santander, LG Electronics, Lexus, Bimbo, Día Group,
Fundación ONCE, HM, Kiehl’s, L’ Oréal, Sephora, Royal Caribbean, Sky TV, Almirall, NH Hotels,
Bupa Group, Telefónica, The Economist.
CONTACT
fernando.polo@goodrebels.com
Develop high
value analysis
and strategies
which put
people at the
centre
Create relevant
and impactful
products,
services and
consumer
experiences
Measure the
impact of
digital and
optimise return
in investment
Accelerate
change,
empower
people and
transform
organisations
INTELLIGENCE EXPERIENCE PERFORMANCE ENABLEMENT
Agile Org.
Imagination
Data
Technology
#REBELTHINKING

32. 32
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