Cognitive athlete
- Ade McCormack
- Jul 24
- 1 min read
Updated: Aug 10
What is a cognitive athlete?
A cognitive athlete is a concept that describes the future of work from the worker’s perspective.
Traditionally the worker was employed to support the smooth running of the organisation’s processes. Creativity was discouraged and the wellbeing of the worker was not of primary concern as they could easily be swapped out with another process compliant worker.
Increasing disruption has shifted organisational priorities from process management to innovation. Novel situations require an innovative approach. And such situations are becoming the norm.
So organisations have to nurture the creativity of the worker in order to innovate. This requires playing to the worker’s humanity. The more human we feel the more creative we will feel is the logic.
So organisations that create work environments that are akin to a cognitive gymnasium will attract and retain the most creative workers. And much like a gym there will be an upward pressure to perform. But this will be welcomed by the workers who feel more self-actuated when their work is primarily creative.
Thus the future of work is likely to involve acquiring and retaining the best talent, aka cognitive athletes.