When, nearly 20 years ago, I started Familiar it was with a very clear and declared purpose: To allow people to come together and discover what “fulfillment” means for each of them as individuals.

At the time, few working with us understood the importance of that purpose, and for those observing from the sidelines, even less so. In fact, most outside observers called it madness or apple-pie land or somesuch. Maybe it was an idea ahead of its time.

But now, wiser heads—such as Alain de Botton, Nilofer Merchant, Gary Hamel, Simon Sinek, et al.—write about the need for a more humane workplace. And of course W. Edwards Deming and Peter Drucker were writing and teaching about this kind of thing half a century ago.

“One of the most Googled questions is: ‘What should I do with my life?’ There’s a fantasy that there’s actually an answer out there.”
—Alain de Botton

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