Global uncertainty, rapid change, and growing pressures seem to characterize our situation today, but a tremendous uptick in ‘new’ foods and delivery methods is fueling expectations and causing disruptions. What is to become of our familiar foods and services? Of our procurement income? What will we menu? Where will the food come from and how much will it cost? These factors keep many of us up at night. But, as with every crisis, the real question is how to turn these uncertainties into opportunities for us to do things differently, better, and more efficiently than ever before. Helene York, Sustainability, Procurement, Product & Menu Innovation Lead, and Simon Elliot, Managing Partner, at boutique advisory firm 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions, look into some of the factors associated with the future of food for the foodservice operators. In this edition: SURVEYING THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE: The early part of the 2020s will be remembered for more than COVID. TRENDS: We see eight trends in procurement for the rest of this decade that contract foodservice operators should consider. FOOD-TECH AND AGTECH: Big protein companies are investing in new foods. Why? SINGLE-USE DISPOSABLES AND PLASTICS: The war on plastics was waged without alternative solutions. WHAT WILL 2030 BRING?: Global factors and their impact on major food categories by 2030. Flick through our magazine version below, or email hello@4xiconsulting.com and we'll send you your own Pdf version. The future of procurement in the foodservice sector. Helene York is the Sustainability, Supply Chain, Menu & Product Innovation consultant of 4xi. Now a teacher and a strategic advisor after two decades as a global supply chain innovator, Helene made a career of questioning business as usual, partnering with chefs, and building trust among suppliers and distributors to move in new and impactful directions. For more information, or to explore procurement and sustainability, you can contact Helene at helene@4xiconsulting.com Simon Elliot is Managing Partner of 4xi and has worked in the food and facilities management business his entire career. Simon is passionate about how procurement can be the driving force for good, and how we can together leverage our collective knowledge to purchase better, smarter, and in the process achieve our ESG and sustainability goals at the same time. 4xi: Inspiring a brighter future, together. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side creating an impact on the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy, whether client, employee or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Philadelphia | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Dallas | Santiago | London | Tokyo

What does it mean to pass or fail? Impress or disappoint? Be number one or second choice? - it takes vision, a supra focus on attention to detail, and a level of visibility into your operations every hour, every minute, of each and every day. In a world where this attention to detail differentiates you from your competition, where compliance means you stay open or closed, and when the small things really do matter - you truly need to create a Room with a View! For most of us, a room with a view means tall glass windows, vistas of beaches, mountains, valleys, or sparkling city lights. Higher floors, most sought-after, give rise to the seeing of a place from lofty climbs, yet the real view happens long before the doors are even open for business – no matter what business you are in. The view through the lens of data and insights, layered with qualitative feedback, both employee and customer sentiment, is the key to a heightened level of success – knowing what’s really going on in your business in real-time. If you want your clients and customers to truly enjoy the magnificence of a room with a view, then you need to create that view long before ‘they’ see it. Program oversight is the bane of remote leadership - not knowing when things are being done, how they are being done, and, more importantly, whether they are being done correctly leaves gaps in performance, makes quick corrections almost impossible, and frustrates everyone in the chain. What would it mean if you could see in real-time what is happening, by whom, and to what standards, and take steps to thank, correct, or improve the little things that make the big difference in a customer experience? "To most leaders, where time is of the essence, having access through technology means the difference between being in control and minimizing risk and being out of control and putting your operations and business at risk." From an organized, clean kitchen and a well-run pantry to an immaculately coifed hotel room - the tasks necessary to invoke consistency, dependability, and reliability are executed today by fewer people, in less time, and in many cases with less finesse. “Quickly identifying any missteps is the difference between passing and failing, impressing, or disappointing. Identifying opportunities for self-correction is now more important than ever.” In the past, we could hire more, hire differently, increase training, and put on more supervisors – in short; we were able to ‘throw’ people at situations hoping to make it better. In today’s challenging employment market, these options are not a possibility leaving leaders to become more creative and the opportunity to leverage technology to drive visibility and insight. Setting up daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly goals, targets, and schedules are now being delivered differently and with less staff. The cadence of activities and, more importantly, adhering to these activities and tracking overall performance is now vital and even satisfying when you can truly ‘See’ what is happening. Having tools that can provide this visibility means tracking month-over-month performance is now as easy as a click of a button; correcting errors, making changes, and adjusting with speed gives you the edge you deserve. “Auditing your own work and those of your teams at any location, at any time, is now a welcome part of your day, not a dreaded task to be taken on only when fortified with copious coffee while marshaling your resolve!” A Room with a View means highlighting outstanding issues so they can be dealt with in real-time; a room with a view means giving you the capacity to set your own standards and know that they can are being adhered to. Imagine a platform that is as feature-rich on your phone, tablet, or laptop, giving you a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree visibility to your business for all stakeholders; now have the ability to create custom hierarchies, groups, and permissions, giving all your teams and staff an opportunity to have access to the appropriate level of visibility. This is a game-changer! Putting your business in the palm of the hand of every member of your team, giving them a role, clear targets, and expectations, and thanking them for a job well done speaks volumes to your commitment to excellence and the sense of team to reach these lofty heights together. Show them how important they are by letting them see how important their attention to detail really is. Commendations and accolades are easily attributable as you, the leader can see what is happening, can track performance, and monitor compliance from the device of your choice. Having access to your business from within your pocket is a potential game changer for any dispersed operations, whether in retail, facilities, food service, retail, or a hotel overlooking a calm blue ocean blessed with golden sands and sunshine. No matter the vista or the location, knowing what is happening at the click of a button removes risk, elevates the experience, and puts you in the driver’s seat of your operations. MyFieldAudits is that Room with a View. INNOVATION PARTNER SPOTLIGHT At 4xi, we've built our Explorers Innovation Directory of carefully curated Innovation Partners, all driving positive impact in the Away from Home market: workplace, education, healthcare, senior living, and leisure. Check out MyFieldAudits: Would you like to have real-time visibility to your business in your pocket? See data, information, and insights, including images of operations and video - all on your mobile device? Having this level of unprecedented visibility allows for nimble fixes and quick reactions to issues or challenges and also opportunities for recognition when things are going smoothly. MyFieldAudits makes knowing what is going on in your business in real-time a reality and helps you see more than ever before. MyFieldAudits has transformed the audit process into a truly useful tool to drive success at all levels of your organization - a hand-held application that makes keeping on top of the details across multiple locations easy and effective. Now you can ‘see’ each operation in real-time. Knowing what is happening in the moment with the resulting quick-fix options at your fingertips is a key differentiator. Extensive and detailed oversight ensures your clients receive the highest quality of care and service at all times. With this knowledge and insights at your fingertips, you can drive efficiency, compliance, and productivity and consistently deliver upon your commitments to quality and service outcomes across multiple facilities diminishing the challenges and complexity of managing dispersed operations. MFAs work with foodservice partners, businesses, universities, care establishments, and hotels in public places like museums and airports to help leaders and operators have a clear and real-time line of sight to every aspect of their business. MyFieldAudits ensures you can see your business in the palm of your hand. See more than ever before. Dina O'Reilly is 4xi's Strategic Partnership & Growth lead; she is also our Project Management Office lead and Ghostwriter in Residence, providing BLOGS+ services to clients. To learn more, contact Dina at dina@4xiconsulting.com 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences©: Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy: Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking DATAxi: Data Ingestion & Visualization Platform 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Customer Friction. Consumer Churn. Journey Mapping. Customer Persona. These terms are bandied about the Customer Experience (CX) universe rather liberally these days, and many of those who work in the consulting space make a meal of overcomplicating these concepts rather than demystifying the process. I am here to break down these ideas and show how they are applicable to almost any industry and can lead to true growth in your business – that isn’t to say that working with an expert wouldn’t drive even more success more quickly, but we don’t need to be so opaque about it all. This is what we do here at 4xi; help organizations adopt principles that lead to growth and success now and into the future. "It is about understanding your customers in a way that makes it very difficult for them to pull the trigger on a new company or product." This classic acquisition and retention strategy is all about removing obstacles to buying, as customers will take the path of least resistance at any given fork in the road. You want to be the easier choice every single time. There are 4 actionable ways you can take action to simplify your customer experience: Understand Your Customers Do you understand your customers? Probably not, and that’s okay – we all have to start somewhere. Start by ensuring you have a customer feedback mechanism. So many businesses are focused on Google Reviews and Facebook Recommendations that often, the satisfaction survey is left behind. Make sure you keep them simple and to the point and that you take action on what you learn. To truly understand customers, you must look at things from their point of view. This is what you may hear called “customer journey mapping.” This is a useful practice that allows you to categorize your customers in “persona,” which means who they are, what they are trying to accomplish, and how they interact with your brand. Once you know WHO your customers are, then you can look at HOW they work with your brand through the awareness, buying, and post-sale processes. The real trick here is to look at things from their perspective, not from yours as a business. Both of these practices are informative and will equip your business to identify potential friction points and then take action to ensure that they don’t cost you business. Inspire Daily Service Behaviors Most often, it is the small things that define customer loyalty – rarely is it the grand gesture or epic fail that makes the difference, but of course, those can win and lose you business on any given day. "The tiny elements, when executed consistently, create a feeling of trust and ease that make customers come back again and again." It is the daily service behaviors that create this consistency and build memories - and that is because it gives your team the guidance they need to be successful. You can tell your team all day long to create world-class experiences, but that often is so ethereal that it doesn’t show them how they can support that vision. On the other hand, you can inspire and coach them to smile, acknowledge guests quickly, walk them to their destination, and say thank you. You can empower them to solve problems and look for creative solutions – and you can reward and celebrate them when they get it right. There are 3 keys to ensuring success with employee behaviors – inspire them rather than demand that they act upon them, reward success, and model those same behaviors as a leader. Reduce overall Customer Effort Customer Effort Score (CES) has become a key measure of loyalty, especially in places like contact centers and online ordering, where first-call resolution and user experience are indicators of success. But it goes beyond the metrics. It is about the relationships you foster with your customers and clients and how easy you can make it for them. Difficult, arduous, or even downright silly processes can derail an interaction in a heartbeat. I am reminded of the last time I picked up a rental car at an actual counter. Normally I favor the handy app that allows me to skip the line after a long flight and head right to my car. Recently because of a lack of cars, I had to visit the little kiosk in the parking garage, and I was reminded why I never do that. Not only is it painfully slow, they ask for the information they already have on file, and their systems run at a snail’s pace. The goal here is to take all the great information you glean from your customer journey mapping and then use that to remove friction from the customer experience. That also means looking at your team experience and processes to be sure that they have technology that works, policies that make sense, and the support they need to deliver on your customer promise. Build a People-Focused Environment Rather than being so focused on the idea of culture, think about the overall environment you are providing rather than a strict set of rules or doctrines that you expect your team to conform to. That is why so many are working to create a sense of belonging and community rather than hyper-focusing on the idea of “culture.” In fact, the word culture has become white noise out there in the lexicon of corporate buzzwords – and yes, I understand that culture eats strategy for breakfast. "With all due respect to Peter Drucker, it has become as meaningless as me saying I had Frosted Flakes for breakfast. The philosophy is spot on, but it has lost its punch over time." Nomenclature aside, putting people first is a key move that you must consider as you make things easier for your customers. When you make your team feel included, welcomed, and valued within your organization, it will inspire them to make things easier for customers and give more discretionary effort to creating those world-class experiences you strive to deliver. That means a couple of things – from a leadership perspective, you have ensured a quality flow of meaningful and relevant communication. It means that team development must be a priority – and not just to make them better at their current job, but to prepare them as a part of your human resources advancement strategy. Finally, it means a place where employees feel appreciated and are known beyond their daily work – and where they feel they have a voice in decision-making and ideation. All of this comes back – directly or indirectly – to make things easier for your customers and clients. It becomes a question of daily vision and leadership into these tactics – embedding them in the overall DNA of your business to create the best possible environment for your employees and customers. "Your customer experience will never be any easier than the experience you provide to your team each day." And that is the ask – eliminate hassles, friction, and inconveniences wherever and whenever you can. That reduction in effort will create environments where the best talent wants to work and where customers come back again and again. Check out 4xi's Evolving Experiences© and learn how we can help you and your business. Tony Johnson is 4xi’s Chief Experience Officer and leader of the Evolving Experiences© practice. Before joining 4xi, he was the Customer Service Officer for Aramark, a global food and facilities organization. Tony is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), award-winning speaker, and globally recognized employee and customer experience expert. Tony is the author of 3 books on leadership, employee engagement, and customer experience and hosts an industry-leading weekly podcast, Customer Service Academy. 4xi: Inspiring a brighter future, together. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, creating an impact on the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy; whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Philadelphia | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Dallas | Santiago | London | Tokyo

4xi's newest Innovation Partner, Unisyn, wins the award for "Most Innovative or Forward Thinking Product/Service" from the Society For Hospitality and FoodService Management (SHFM). This year's SHFM Annual Conference was held in Denver, Colorado, with over 600 industry professionals attending - the biggest turnout in recent memory. The event saw the handover of outgoing President Rob Gebhardt of JLL and the incoming Sharon Eliatamby of World Bank Group. Each year, innovators and supply partners are invited to exhibit, and each year an award for Best in Show Most Innovative Product or Service, with 2022s winner Unisyn, Your Best Team Everywhere. Co-founded by industry favorite and legend Andrew Main and entrepreneur Joel Onyshuk, Unisyn is a platform that enables team huddles and drives the most important behaviors that positively impact daily operations across dispersed business locations. "The beauty of Unisyn is it's focus on one of the most important activities of the day - the team huddle. How leaders and managers can reiterate the key organizational messages and specific actions that drive behaviors and deliver real impact to the business." As Unisyn describes the value proposition of this groundbreaking tool: 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager (Gallup). Unisyn empowers frontline managers to become frontline leaders, digitally transforming daily huddles and enabling the replication of behaviors of your best managers at every location. This digital transformation unleashes powerful behavioral metric data, enabling the management by exception to coach managers more effectively and easily recognize great performances. Unisyn unlocks frontline communication and collaboration and unlocks the potent power of your regular huddles. Here is to your best team everywhere, and congratulations once again to Unisyn on their well-deserved award. Unisyn, Inc., the Service Industry solution to unlocking frontline leadership consistency and frontline associate engagement, received the award for "Most Innovative or Forward-Thinking Product/Service" from SHFM. Judges were a panel of operators as well as conference attendees who voted on a number of innovations and solutions, including those promoted by PepsiCo, Coca-Cola North America, Ecolab, Impossible Foods, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Panasonic, Red Bull North America, and many other household names. Based in Tampa, FL., Unisyn's mission is to "Put your best team everywhere" by empowering your frontline teams to bring your mission to life everywhere and every day. According to Gallup, 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager, and Unisyn is the first and only solution to address this unique, global challenge for Service Industry companies with distributed teams. Explorers Innovation Directory At 4xi, we've built our Explorers Innovation Directory of carefully curated Innovation Partners, all driving positive impact in the Away from Home market: workplace, education, healthcare, senior living, and leisure. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Did you know that we consume the equivalent weight of a credit card of plastic every week through the water we drink, food, and air we breathe? (EcoResolution) One would think with a composition of 70% water, we humans should be paying a tad more attention to what we ingest. Should we not? Water Composition of the Human Body: On average, the body of an adult human being contains 70% water. Most of the water in the human body is contained inside our cells. The average human body is comprised of 32 trillion cells that must have water to live and stay healthy. Then, with all the recent news and focus on droughts around the world, apparently the worst for 500 years, rivers drying up to unprecedented levels, many revealing the secrets of the past, the oceans becoming a dumping ground, the challenge of how to keep ourselves hydrated without the burden we are placing on the planet through single-use plastics. "How do we solve this dilemma now, with urgency, with impact, and to reverse the many wrongs we have committed against our planet?" 66% of the world's population experiences severe water scarcity for at least one month of the year. 700 Million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030, according to the Global Water Institute. 3.2 Billion people live in agricultural areas with high water shortages or scarcity. "With water being the 'essence of life' and at the same time, the imbalance of water security across the planet, coupled with, the plague of plastic, how can we tackle these issues, together?" Are you on a mission to reduce your plastic consumption by dutifully using your reusable water container? Popping a filter on your shower head? Buying food in bulk or using glass containers for storage versus plastic? Although all are ways many of us are exercising to be on the good side and not the bad side of the plastic debacle, is that the full story? Sadly, it is not! The MacArthur Foundation estimates that by the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish. "To give you a point of perspective, there are currently 8.3 billion tons of plastic in the world today in visual terms, imagine one billion elephants!" The image beggar’s belief. However, the real impact of this volume means the existence of even more microplastic in our water and even more risk to our health as 8.3 billion tons of plastic continually breaks down. “Once the plastic is in the environment, we can’t really get it out.” Insidiously small, and invisible to the naked eye, these tiny particles contribute to ill health as our bodies are not designed to process them. Our plastic story begs the question of what we can do and how we can do it. What is our ‘Duty of Care' to the planet, our health, and our future? Duty of care is a powerful phrase we should each take to heart as it will be the cornerstone for our conscience, decisions, health, and the health of our families, loved ones, and future generations to come. Selling more water in yet another plastic bottle is not the answer. While names like Ice, Volcanic, Arctic, and Spring impart nourishing feelings of health and vitality, they change not the content of microplastics floating silently within. Putting on blinders and hoping that recycling will do something with those thousands of tons of plastic bottles filling up our trash bags is akin to putting your head in the sand in the middle of a war zone and hoping it's going to go away. "It is never going to be about recycling and reusing. We must STOP drinking water out of those plastic bottles. Choosing how we source, filter, and ingest water becomes the only meaningful question!" Filtration systems have been around for decades, but the sophistication, elegance, state-of-the-art designs, and technologies are now readily available in ways we could never have imagined, even a few years ago. Removing plastic from our lives is not an option but an obligation if we are to choose health over illness. There are many parallels in our past: the alcohol industry advertising, "it's good for you," smoking sections in the rear of commercial airlines, and how, in the late 1800s, healthcare professionals thought the washing of hands was unnecessary, to the lie propagated by interested parties that fossil fuels weren't harmful to the planet. "We are facing an existential crisis, and the elimination of single-use plastics is an absolute priority. We need to embrace alternatives for how we hydrate, and the quality of water we consume to protect our health and not endanger it." Water filtration systems likely hold an answer and an important solution to this double-edged dilemma: 1. Health: Filters remove pharmaceuticals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), with many filters also removing bacteria. 2. Environment: Using filtered water and reusable vessels eliminate much of the mountain of plastics in our landfills, oceans, and seas. "It seems, therefore, that ‘Duty of Care’ is truly all about how to choose the right filter for yourself, your family, and your consumers versus what bottled water brand to buy next." At the most basic level the benefits of filtered water include improved skin hydration, nutrient absorption, weight loss, detoxification, digestion, and a reduction in the risk of cancer. Basic, however, is no longer enough. Micron filters of 0.2 are needed to truly remove not just your trusty microbes, silt, and pesticides but must now elevate to a higher level to remove microplastics, as long-term consumption of them can only induce poor health. "It's not a question of IF, but when? Human exposure to microplastics leads to oxidative stress, DNA damage and inflammation which ultimately can become chronic. It is easy to see where this leads….. " As you sit back and reflect on the humble sip of water, think carefully about the quality of that water and not so much what you can see but what you cannot! The right type of filter not only enhances the taste but removes microplastics as well. As Audrey Hepburn Quoted: Water is life, and clean water means health. To your health – all 100% of you! At 4xi, we believe in preserving our planet and promoting awareness about sustainability issues, the environment, social, and governance. We are committed to supporting the United Nations Global Compact and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We believe in doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do. Sustainability Simplified© INNOVATION PARTNER SPOTLIGHT Check out Vivreau Advanced Water Systems: Vivreau is committed to the healthy hydration of people, wherever they may be at work, rest, or play. Founded over 30 years ago in the UK and brought to North America in 2008, the company has grown into a global team of water quality experts with dedicated R&D and water sensory labs. Through a deep commitment to environmental consciousness, Vivreau's solutions are environmentally friendly, eliminate single-use plastics, reduce waste, and provide healthy hydration. Vivreau's systems filter water through activated carbon and an ion-exchange resin produced from coconut shells. The activated carbon removes substances that impair taste, such as chlorine, and reduces the levels of limescale, copper, and lead, resulting in the safest and most flavorsome and safest filtered water on the planet. Vivreau focuses on complete solutions with dispensers and bottles that combine elegant design, reliable performance, and great-tasting drinking water in a way that is good for the planet and environmentally friendly. Vivreau works with foodservice partners, businesses, universities, care establishments, hotels, and conference centers, in public places like museums and airports, to help elevate their brand, profits, sustainability, and health & wellness initiatives. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Why unlearning familiar rituals holds key to a smarter workplace. To mark the launch of their new book Unworking, WORKTECH founders Philip Ross and Jeremy Myerson reflect on the need to jettison old ideas about the office and think more radically about the future. In the annals of the modern workplace, the year 2022 already looks set to secure a special place. This year we have seen millions of workers around the world mandated back to the office by their employers after the global pandemic but resist doing so in huge numbers. In the UK, senior government ministers have left unsubtle calling cards on the desks of work-at-home civil servants, demanding they return to Whitehall as soon as possible. Companies have invested heavily in all types of smart technology, including VR headsets, video suites, and even the metaverse, as they try to find ways to enable a remote workforce to collaborate more effectively in a ‘hybrid’ model. Employers have started paying unprecedented attention to the mental well-being of their workers, not just their physical safety. And designers have started remodeling office space with a focus on hospitality, socializing, and the ‘customer’ experience. "Jeremy Myerson and Philip Ross eloquently lay out the history of work and how the clues of the past become the keys to the future." A different picture Jump back exactly 100 years, and the picture was very different. The early 1920s were the gold rush years for the modern office as tall buildings sprung up amid rapid urbanization and the rise of a set of dominant industrial technologies, including the telephone, writer, elevator, and electric light. These vast work towers were staffed by identikit armies of office clerks, overwhelmingly white, male, and able-bodied, a far cry from today’s more diverse workforces. To experience office life in 1922 was to be part of a machine – to be a cog in a mechanical system with the office building as the fixed, immovable point in this time-and-motion universe. To experience office life in 2022 is to spend a large chunk of the week avoiding it altogether, working at home instead or in a café or coworking lounge, using a new dominant set of digital technologies to contribute and communicate. "The transition from the traditional, fixed hierarchies of working to circular design methodology and application, and how at the center of those work and human circles in the need for connectivity, collaboration, and community - all supported by human centric programming." Unraveling how we work How we went from the stern, scientifically managed office, derived from the industrial factory floor and firmly rooted in time and space, to the current model of working anyhow, anytime and anywhere is the subject of our new book, Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office. We have reached such a different place in the evolution of the modern office – physically, conceptually, and philosophically – that a new way of thinking is required to grasp the scale of the transition currently underway. In the book, Myerson and Ross describe the term ‘unworking’ as unraveling how we work, unbundling the assumptions that are baked into the modern office, and unlearning the habits, management styles, and workplace cultures that have traditionally defined our behavior at work. The purpose of ‘unworking’ is to reimagine what the future workplace could be like, but this is no easy task. Taylorist ideas about office design, organization and productivity are deeply ingrained – the effect of a century of management indoctrination, a spell only broken by the public health crisis of the pandemic which put the office itself out of bounds just long enough for a total rethink to get underway. Even the current binary debate about hybrid working – which is better, office or home? – clings to the past. It speaks to an old model of office boundaries when changing social attitudes and technological innovations suggest a boundaryless workplace. "A recommended read for anyone interested or engaged in the reinvention and design of the future of work." A fitting metaphor The front cover of Unworking has a graphic evoking a skyline of office towers passing down through a shredder and emerging as software code. This is a fitting metaphor for the office becoming a software solution in the 21st century as opposed to being all about physical hardware and place, a 20th-century obsession. The book charts the evolution of the office from the age of efficiency through the social democratic ideals of the community-based workplace to the rise of the network. It is centrally preoccupied with what comes next as our organizations, experiences, spaces, technologies, design processes, and even our cities are subject to radical change. "The cover evokes a skyline of office towers passing through a shredder to emerge as software code…" No longer the all-powerful setting for work, Unworking explores how the modern office is morphing into something else: Myerson and Ross predict it will become more sentient, social, elastic, and personalized, a magnetizing response to people having a choice about whether or not to come to the office whereas before there was simply no alternative. Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office by Jeremy Myerson and Philip Ross was published on 31st August 2022 by Reaktion Books, and distributed in the US by the University of Chicago Press. About the Authors Jeremy Myerson is a leading international academic researcher, author, and activist in people-centered design and innovation based in London. He holds the Helen Hamlyn Chair of Design at the Royal College of Art, and he joined Unwired in October 2015 to set up The WORKTECH Academy, a global knowledge network looking at the future of work. Philip Ross is an author, advisor, speaker, futurist, and commentator on the new world of work. With a focus on people and behaviors, business outcomes, and trends. Specializing in predicting the impact of digital disruption and new technology on the way we work, shop, learn, live and consume leisure. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Formula One racing conjures up images of whining engines, and brightly colored, low-to-the-ground expensive cars. We watch as sophisticated body suits, physically fit drivers in form-fitting crash helmets take on hairpin bends at terrifying speeds with pit crews milling around as every micro-second is under constant scrutiny. It seems it takes a village to raise one driver and one car to these intense, complicated, and high-tech conditions that comprise a single race. Formula One racing is truly built on a team of experts, engineers, chemists, scientists, and a plethora of devoted to the cause, car enthusiasts. The precision, the laser focus, the discipline, and the relentless pursuit of excellence is extraordinary and captivating. Every second saved, every turn tighter, every intake of air or expulsion of exhaust leads the inexorable hunt for the crew that supports each driver on the track. Pit crews change 4 tires in less than 3 seconds. STOP! Think about that – for a second – excuse the pun! 1 - 2 - 3, and the car is back on the track! It is both mind-blowing to watch and astonishing to contemplate. NOTE TO SELF: Remind me to mention this fact to my local mechanic next time I wander into my friendly tire joint and sit with a bad cup of coffee, waiting the hour it takes to rotate my tires! But seriously, the techniques employed; the processes followed; the protocols developed; the continuous improvement; the quest for better, faster, stronger, more stable, more of just about everything you can think of – this is the world of never believing ever, that any ceiling is present or that any record cannot be broken! "F1 is the world of excellence, of constant progress towards perfection, and, in so doing, gave us, the ordinary driver's gifts that many of us do not fully appreciate." A track record of driving innovation A double overhead camshaft ensures proper intake of fresh air and expels exhaust was introduced in the 1912 French Grand Prix and is now prevalent in most road cars even today. Carbon Fiber, introduced in 1981, is now used in so many high ends brand cars, including BMW, Porsche, and many more. Paddle shifters, and steering wheel buttons, diamond-like coatings, and adaptive suspensions all made their way from the racetrack to the humble family car. Tire treads and heat tolerant coatings improved the safety of tires, and they too found their way to us, the ordinary driver carrying our precious cargo to the finish line; our families, children, grandchildren, furry friends, and, let’s be honest ourselves. Radial slicks developed in 1972 revolutionized racing and saved countless lives on regular roads. Grooves, treads, sizes, and robust tire walls were all developed, tested, and assessed on the most demanding road of all – the Formula One Racetrack. Did you know that Anti-lock Braking Systems, or ABS, so well known to most of us today, are easily one of the most significant safety features that came out of Formula One racing? This brilliant design improves braking effectiveness and is now a lifesaving feature on most cars today, even though for Formula One, the feature was not well suited. "How marvelous that even when these talented F1 inventors cannot fully use their own brilliance on the track, their creations trickle down to us so we can drive safer cars with this braking system which in turn saves lives around the world." Testing function, features, innovation, and brilliance under the most grueling of conditions, the F1 race, means these new developments are put through their paces in ways most laboratories cannot even begin to emulate. Suffice it to say; if it can perform here, it can perform anywhere. Formula One is not just expensive car racing; it is not just noisy, madcap adrenaline junkies screaming around hairpin bends at breakneck speeds to the delight of audiences around the world but, in fact, the most extraordinary living laboratory to help make all driving safer, more efficient, more reliable, and dependable. Next time you see a race on television, hear the whine of an engine in the distance, and wonder what the point of it all is? – take a moment to reflect – for it is here in the world of F1 that some of the greatest safety inventions were born that may indeed save your life or someone you love one day. Enjoy the race! Dina O'Reilly is 4xi's Strategic Partnership & Growth lead, she is also our Project Management Office lead, and Ghostwriter in Residence, providing BLOGS+ services to clients. To learn more, contact Dina at dina@4xiconsulting.com 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Real Flow: Break the Burnout Cycle and Unlock High Performance in the New World of Work: Your organization is capable of higher performance than you imagined possible when you shift to Real Flow. Business leaders have seen it before. Teams that should be achieving great work with ease are caught in a wild frenzy of competing priorities. Gradually their people suffer burnout, innovation evaporates, and time and energy are wasted on the wrong problems. Thanks to this organizational multitasking, their organization is flooding from the pressure to do it all. But there is an unexpected solution to achieve high performance once again. Organizational agility expert Brandi Olson brings front and center what happens when an organization chases too many priorities simultaneously. Featuring extensive interviews with organizational leaders, Real Flow demonstrates the principles of flow that will create the environment teams need to achieve and sustain high performance. Integrating cognitive science, organizational agility, and lean principles, this is your guide to delivering exceptional value and enabling people to be happy, healthy, and engaged in their work. Discover: The costly link between competing priorities, multitasking, and burnout and why no amount of vacation, self-care, or team-building activities will solve it. How to embrace the ecosystem paradigm and the direct impact it has on an organization’s ability to adapt, change, and thrive. Strategies to remedy the burnout problem that don’t involve doing less, expecting less, or shrinking the to-do list. How to redefine performance to maximize human potential for the long term over the short term and what that will do for your teams. The essential practice of limiting work in progress to improve the flow of value, plus the radical effect it has on solving the challenges your organization is facing. Leaders don’t need to choose between good work and their teams’ well-being. Leading a high-performance organization depends on happy, healthy people. Read Real Flow and cultivate an evidence-driven approach to design a high-performing, agile organization, improve employee retention, and stop the burnout for good. "Insightful and pragmatic about the realities that companies face every day.... This book helps you put simple but effective strategies in place: outcomes over outputs, less is more, happy and healthy employees, dedicated working time, leaders actually leading by example and creating space to learn and innovate. A must read for all leaders." Amanda Finney, Senior Vice President, Product Management and User Experience Design at Wells Fargo "Brandi Olson's book explores the business impact and consequence of...misalignment (working on the wrong things), disengagement (and a lack of innovation), to burnout. Brandi reminds us of the reality of business systems and gives us ways to unlearn and rethink how we should be working. A timely book for all leaders of today (and tomorrow)." Evan Leybourn, CEO and cofounder, Business Agility Institute About the Author Brandi Olson is an organizational agility expert and the founder of Real Work Done, a consultancy serving leaders through agile transformation, organizational strategy, team design, and executive coaching. She has spent two decades consulting with organizations-from nonprofits to universities to global Fortune 500 companies. An expert in organizational learning and change, she teaches leaders how to solve problems and adapt fast with high-performing teams. A sought-after speaker on agility and high-performing teams, Brandi lives in Minnesota. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Trees are givers of shade and coolness on a hot and sunny day; home to birds, creatures, and insects of every kind; trees are the heroes in stories and even magical with lands that live atop the canopy with strange fruits and nuts growing on different branches. Gobblers of carbon dioxide, they are the lungs of our planet. But did you know that they are very much alive under the ground too? A whole world of roots that are tended to and cared for by the real mother of the woods. Mothers are, of course, the givers of life, the wisdom keepers, the knowers of what is going on and what needs to be done to solve it. Mothers guide, lead, nurture and govern with routines, insight, and compassion. They are also, strong, firm, and aware long before you are. Did you ever wonder if your mother had eyes at the back of her head or the hearing of a Peruvian fruit bat? I sure did! Cast your eye over a copse or wood and know that a world of leadership, wisdom, brilliance, and tenderness is happening right under your feet. Tendrils communicate gently and with a depth of detail, power, and preciseness to embarrass even the noblest of quantum computers. Information is captured, assessed, processed, and shared for not only what each tree needs and how they are doing but, down to the exact micronutrient required to help. Each unique tree snuggled into the masses is understood, monitored, and supported via this mother of the woods. No matter how complex the sea of roots with sometimes upwards of thousands of trees in one network, every single tree is cared for as it needs to be. Not just generically but personalized and customized. How’s them apples? These extraordinary fungi, use their branch and arm-like membranes to build a communication network called mycelium. The mycelium is the connector. She connects individual plants, and even a whole ecosystem together in a web of information. Empowered by the precise needs of her family, the mycelium delivers nutrients, sugar, and water in a complex dynamic interactive manner with the plants and delivers chemical signals. Despite lacking a nervous system, these fungi can transmit information using electrical impulses across their thread-like filaments called hyphae. These fine and delicate filaments form a thin web called a mycelium that links fungal colonies within the soil. In astonishing fashion, these networks are remarkably like an animal's nervous system. We so often tread with our heavy feet through paths and across wooded areas without realizing that this intelligence is working all around us and below us in ways that we cannot fully appreciate. The mycorrhizal network not only sends nutrients to one other under normal conditions but can signal to each other in times of stress. It is as though they have feelings! Do I believe they do? Yes, I do! I believe that trees have feelings, and the network of information that shuttles to and from under the soil, through the soil, and around the roots seems to validate my beliefs. But in true scientific fact, the linch pin in the tree-fungi networks are hub trees. Sometimes referred to as “mother trees,” these are the older, more seasoned trees in a forest. Having the most fungal connections, their roots are established in deeper soil and can reach deeper sources of water to pass on to younger saplings. Through the mycorrhizal network, these hub trees detect the ill health of their neighbors from distress signals and send them needed nutrients. Nobel laureate biologist Max Delbrück considered mycelium “the most intelligent” of simple multicellular organisms. Quite the pronouncement coming from a scientist. Intelligence implies thought, awareness, compassion, wisdom, and ultimately leadership. When we apply intelligence, it is to solve a problem or create solutions that often impact those around us. Our families, teams, employees, friends, or communities are affected when we apply intelligence to our efforts. Mycelium is intelligent, aware, wise, and shares willingly, with compassion, and without compensation or something in return. Mycelium is a true Mother! Dina O'Reilly is 4xi's Strategic Partnership & Growth lead, she is also our Project Management Office lead, and Ghostwriter in Residence, providing BLOGS+ services to clients. To learn more, contact Dina at dina@4xiconsulting.com 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

There has never been a time where the importance of visibility to dispersed operations, enhanced insights and data, operational efficiency, and superior employee and customer experiences have ever been so important as it is today. IMAGINE your business operations visible on your device – what’s going on, compliance, reporting, quality, standards – the ability to manage your business in your pocket – that dream is now a reality today thanks to our Innovation Partners, MyFieldAudits. Taking the important and fundamental business process of audit, MFAs have taken this to the next level and created a tool that is not just tracking retrospective performance but performance in real-time, setting and maintaining standards of operation, and giving real-time visibility to your operations. How much do you spend on expenses for your team to visit your sites? How effective are they when they get their fielding calls, emails, and catching up? How long does it take? What is their span of supervision? How often can they physically get to each of your operations? These are all questions that most operators ask themselves, but what is the alternative? In this article, we’re going to address just one aspect of this conundrum and how we elevate the overall experience. TO EMPOWER means to give authority to or in short, allow someone to become stronger, more confident, so much so, that they feel able to impact their world! The notion, therefore, of giving sovereignty to a customer, a visitor, or guest means their role in your ecosystem and world are of such importance that you allow transparency and visibility into your processes, methods, means, and ways – you afford them the ability to ‘impact’ their experience in your ‘world’. When we truly listen to our customers and guests or, conversely, listen to the data and metrics that drive change, we give ourselves the tools to improve. In this new post-pandemic world, the customer service experience needs to be more than a smiling face or kindly porter. We are now in a time where there are fewer people per shift to cope with the workload. Previously unheard-of phenomena such as The Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting mean that the above and beyond call to action is often not an option, or in many cases, there are simply not enough personnel or leadership to cover any given event or operation. The ‘how’ to impress a customer has, as a result, changed significantly. The lack of personnel; the ongoing shortage of human capital means that everything else must sparkle and shine to create a positive experience. It is now the time for your environment, your facilities, your amenities, your surroundings, and even your parking lots to speak clearly, with panache and perfection. Your physical assets have now become the key features of the experience and, as such, must be on point, crisp, and sharp all the time. Today’s world is at an all-time low with the customer experience less elevated than ever in the past, training budgets slashed; finding personnel a challenge; supply chains weak and shelves not as well stocked as they once were. Rising costs and inflation have left many businesses struggling to reach the pre-pandemic standards of business and operations. Shining Assets The ‘how’ you empower the customer experience is now often in the hands of the attention to detail, perfection, and consistent immaculateness of the space. Repeat business, accolades, advocacy, and high-quality reviews do not come from simplicity they arise out of genuine appreciation for the quality of the total experience. The expression itself, ‘Experience,’ is a somewhat overused word in our lexicon at this time in our human story, yet it is the one we lean on the most to describe the feelings of having learned or felt something worth sharing or repeating. Perhaps the wonder of the customer experience is as much about the surroundings as it is about the experience. What elements comprise a truly elevated experience? Warm welcomes; pretty entrances; tidy facilities; fresh foliage or flowers; clean floors; well-stocked supplies; tidy shelves; easy-to-navigate facilities; clean bathrooms, or something more important? The answer is - all the above done consistently without skipping a beat and never letting a moment to correct left unnoticed. Consistency of performance, reaction time to correct, and instant awareness are the secrets to this new world! With awareness, real-time responses, and immediately actionable moments improves an experience and demonstrate geste. The myriad of well-done, often mundane facets become the bedrock that drives a brand towards best in class as each customer takes note both consciously and unconsciously of each of those elements. The show then is not just recognizing that everything from a clean, well-ordered parking lot or watered flower beds is important, but that consistency, awareness, and constantly staying ahead to ensure each of those key elements is always in the best shape is the secret to success. Service quality is not limited to hospitality, retail or health facilities but is now a requirement for anyone, in any arena, looking to garner, keep and impress their customers, visitors, and guests.” On average, it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one. With this jolting number in mind, it behooves us to find ways to ensure that our customer’s experience is consistently top-notch but without the stress, angst, and strain that typical auditing and checking requires from supervisors, leaders, and staff. Tracking, monitoring, and sharing details has traditionally been tedious, difficult, or missing vital links, but in today's world of driving performance, quality care, and best-of-breed customer services, these details become the differentiator between good and excellent. We are, by our very nature, visual creatures, meaning that what we see drives so much of how we feel and remember our experiences. Your Business in Your Pocket What a difference real-time data, insights, and even imagery and video feeds could make to leadership, consistency of quality, and adaptive nimbleness? What if capturing operational feedback with relevant photographs and images could be done on a mobile device? What if real-time alerts and critical issues could be communicated instantly? What if that data could be used to benchmark, track, and provide insight? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could see trends, patterns, and core metrics in the palm of your hand? Empowering the Customer Voice is all about making sure the little things sparkle, the undone is fixed, the messy is tidied up, surfaces polished, and the busy details smoothed over. There is indeed a surefire way to guarantee you can meet such lofty standards. Leverage! Leveraging tracking tools with images in real-time, in human hands, monitored by your people, allow your guests to truly have a great experience in your facility. Do you want to be the Best? Then give your customer a VOICE with REAL technology in the palm of your hand. With every tiny detail affecting the other, with every interaction cumulatively creating an image in the mind's eye of the guest and visitor, having them run smoothly, consistently, and reliably guarantees an extraordinary outcome. When even one tiny link in the chain is broken, the experience diminishes. 'The food was great - the service not so much,' bemoans the patron. The selection of produce was amazing, but the store was unkempt and disorganized! One aspect truly impacts another. With imagery and tools in the palm of your hand, every small detail has a home; has an owner; has a swift and immediate solution. With the right technology, you own perfection in real-time, and that truly is the differentiator that puts you above the crowd! Welcome to the power of seeing your business clearly! INNOVATION PARTNER SPOTLIGHT At 4xi, we've built our Explorers Innovation Directory of carefully curated Innovation Partners, all driving positive impact in the Away from Home market: workplace, education, healthcare, senior living, and leisure. Check out MyFieldAudits: Would you like to have real-time visibility to your business in your pocket? See data, information, and insights, including images of operations and video - all on your mobile device? Having this level of unprecedented visibility allows for nimble fixes and quick reactions to issues or challenges and also opportunities for recognition when things are going smoothly. MyFieldAudits makes knowing what is going on in your business in real-time a reality and helps you see more than ever before. MyFieldAudits has transformed the audit process into a truly useful tool to drive success at all levels of your organization - a hand-held application that makes keeping on top of the details across multiple locations easy and effective. Now you can ‘see’ each operation in real-time. Knowing what is happening in the moment with the resulting quick-fix options at your fingertips is a key differentiator. Extensive and detailed oversight ensures your clients receive the highest quality of care and service at all times. With this knowledge and insights at your fingertips, you can drive efficiency, compliance, and productivity and consistently deliver upon your commitments to quality and service outcomes across multiple facilities diminishing the challenges and complexity of managing dispersed operations. MFAs work with foodservice partners, businesses, universities, care establishments, and hotels in public places like museums and airports to help leaders and operators have a clear and real-time line of sight to every aspect of their business. MyFieldAudits ensures you can see your business in the palm of your hand. See more than ever before. Dina O'Reilly is 4xi's Strategic Partnership & Growth lead; she is also our Project Management Office lead and Ghostwriter in Residence, providing BLOGS+ services to clients. To learn more, contact Dina at dina@4xiconsulting.com 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

Many organizations are under-resourced and have been hesitant to replace, back-fill, or take on additional headcount and cost in the current environment and these times of uncertainty. This is the perfect time to consider Fractional Leadership On-Demand. At 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions, we have a wealth of talent available to support your business on a short-term, project by project, or on a longer-term advisory and support basis, including: Chief Growth Officer, Sales & Retention From bid strategy to major pursuits, from overall growth strategy to building your growth playbook, and from identifying Ideal Client Client Characterization and Profile, we have decades of experience helping organizations grow. Chief Strategy Officer You may be looking at how your brand is perceived among users and non-users. Looking at potential new markets, acquisitions. Thinking about your post-pandemic/pre-recession business strategy - we're here to help and take the lead whilst you're busy running the business. Chief Sustainability Officer, and Supply Chain More important than ever before, but how is your organization resourcing and addressing sustainability in your business? From building strategy to supporting sales and retention pursuits, to creating fully connected ESG and procurement strategies. Chief Experience Officer Human Experience is now more than just a buzzword - it's a business imperative, but how are you tackling HX in your business? Customer Experience (EX) and Employee Experience (EX) strategies help drive top-line performance and bottom-line performance too. Amenity Operations Leadership Client-side operations have changed forever - how are you addressing the return to office strategy of your organization? How are you intending to magnetize your physical space to build a compelling proposition to return to the office? At 4xi, we have decades of experience and can help your organization navigate this future of uncertainty. Chief Innovation Officer Our Explorers Innovation Directory is a highly curated source of best-in-class innovation designed to create an impact in the Away from Home market: people at work, in education, at rest, and at leisure - Let us take the lead and feed you with a continuous pipeline of innovation. These are just some of examples of how we can help. Email us at hello@4xiconsulting.com to learn more about how we can support your business on a fractional, on-demand basis. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo

There have been phenomena and new terms that have come out over the past three years. Who would have thought that the world of work could have changed so much so quickly? As I have repeatedly mentioned, the global pandemic was an accelerator of existing issues, but how do we translate today into what we should do for tomorrow? First off, here are some definitions for you to digest: QUIET QUITTING: is a term and trend that emerged in mid-2022 from a viral TikTok video. The philosophy of quiet quitting is not abruptly leaving a job but doing exactly what the job requires, no more no less. The main objective of this mindset is avoiding occupational burnout and paying more attention to one's mental health and personal well-being. But this is a problem for employers - how do you suddenly deal with a workforce that does the bare minimum and doesn't go that discretionary extra mile, an extra hour, or the additional weekend that you thank them with praises and gratitude? THE GREAT RESIGNATION: also known as the Big Quit and the Great Reshuffle, is an ongoing economic trend in which employees have voluntarily resigned from their jobs en masse, beginning in early 2021. Possible causes include wage stagnation amid the rising cost of living, long-lasting job dissatisfaction, safety concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the desire to work for companies with better remote-working policies. Some economists have described the Great Resignation as akin to a general strike. The term "Great Resignation" was coined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of management at University College London's School of Management, in May 2021, when he predicted a sustained mass exodus. RE-TOOLING: for many, the global pandemic represented an opportunity, and in some cases, as people were paid to stay at home, the more intuitive went out to better themselves, take courses, study, and qualifications so that post-COVID they could step out and step up. Re-tooling has left a big gap in some industries as servers have qualified to be accountants, manual workers to be UBER drivers, and the previously disillusioned looking for better careers and pay. IN THE TRENCHES: then,as organizations slimmed down, there was a group of people keeping the boat afloat fulfilling essential roles in keeping the organization alive. This group of people were asked to do more for the same (sometimes less) and are likely suffering some form of PTSD right now. Employers need to take care, focus, and support all of these groups, but the "In The Trenches" are the ones that are most likely critical to your business and deserve the most support. THE REMAINERS: this is a group of people that managed to evade under the radar, keep their jobs, their head below the parapet, not rock the boat, nor do anything outstanding to do so, but then again, they likely never have. This last group is part and parcel, part of the furniture, has been around forever, and likely has deep threads and connections within your organization, and although not decision-makers, leaders, or pioneers, they can get in the way and obstruct change. "Just this week, one global leader stated that if you don't have a desk, then you don't have a job in their ongoing attempt to clamp down and get their employees back to the physical place." Whatever your strategy: back to work, hybrid, or work remotely forever, we don't truly understand yet what all that means, especially as the workforce has gotten used to working how they have done for the past three years, and that the commute still stands as the major barrier between remote and in-person workplaces. "Making Culture, Your Winning Strategy covers these issues and many more. How do leaders today navigate through the aftermath of COVID-19 and establish a NORTH STAR?" There are so many questions to ask: Who are your people? How do you connect? Who are the drivers? The Innovators, early adopters? Who are the blockers? And most importantly, once you have gone through this deep self-reflection and discovery, the next step, is: What do you do about it? Flick through our magazine version below, or email hello@4xiconsulting.com, and we'll send you your own PDF version. Simon Elliot is Managing Partner and co-founder of 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions and is focused on a people-first approach to enable optimum Human Experiences for people away from home: at work, in education, at rest, or at leisure. Simon believes that Experience Matters! applies in many different ways and is the fundamental foundation of a successful business, no matter the business. Simon is a global citizen, having lived, worked, and traveled to over 45 countries and six continents, and believes in the power of human potential. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a Member of the Institute of Leadership & Management, and North America Chair of the WORKTECH Academy. Simon lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. 4xi Global Consulting & Solutions is a team of talented leaders from both the client-side and service provider side, impacting the Human Experience (HX) for people at work, in education, rest, and at leisure. We believe in a people-first, experience-led philosophy. Whether client, employee, or guest – their experience is the fundamental foundation of success. We work with corporations, service providers, and innovators: Strategic Advisory & Special Projects (SPx) Headquarters Fractional Support On-Demand Evolving Experiences© - Employee (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Design4Life©: Environmental, Physical, and Experiential Design Global Amenities Strategy, Design & Operations TRUE NORTH©: Strategic Partnership & Growth Explorers Innovation Directory: Gateway to Innovation Sustainability Simplified©: Supply Chain & Innovation Market Research Reports & Benchmarking 4xi is proud to be Chair of WORKTECH Academy for North America and a member of its Leadership Advisory Board. 4xi is a Global Ambassador for WORKTECH Academy. San Francisco | New York | Orlando | North Carolina | Seattle | Silicon Valley | Santiago | London | Tokyo