Mike Perk & Charles Mathews: HopePunk. A guide for optimists bettering workplaces

HUMA Book Lunch

Author: Mike Perk & Charles Mathews (South Africa)

Introduction: Are your employees happy at work? Are you happy at work? Most everyone knows that happy, engaged teams filled with purpose, do their best work. But how do you get there in a grim, dark world filled with uncertainty, fear, anxiety and dread?

HopePunk is the guidebook for business leaders who want to fuel movements of hopeful pragmatic transformation for organisations to thrive in the twenty-first century. A manifesto for dismantling oppressive work controls, HopePunk reveals how we can change for the better. A book for optimistic pragmatists who want to challenge what blocks innovation, collaboration, and adaptability. HOPEPUNK is for people who want to engineer kinder and more humane workplaces. A recipe book for hopeful pioneers building better organisations for society, humanity, and the planet, HopePunk is the most essential purpose we can have.

This book is for those who have the courage to act on hope, and who by so doing, make it real, actionable, and powerful.

What is HopePunk? HopePunk is weaponised optimism. It is our capacity to re-imagine a better future for the greater good. But optimism is not enough to bring change. Hope needs pragmatic action with compassionate rebellion to build new worlds.

Hope is the force of will and creativity that can re-imagine better outcomes for ourselves against all odds. With Hope as a driving force, we can build, make, shape, and create. It’s what we need to improve ourselves, our organisations, and our contexts—to realise something better. To be Punk is to take action and fight back against the hierarchies, controls, and the layered multidimensional oppressions we have created. It’s the self-belief that propels us forward to make change. It’s our willingness to build new systems and cultures that bring about greater equality, and more diversity, that enable and promote freedom for all. It is the ability to be our full true selves, without fear of failure, being shamed, or feeling isolated. 

See the book: HopePunk: A guide for optimists bettering workplaces (2021). 

About the authors: 

Mike Perk is a managing partner at GrayFeather Consulting, a “future fit” people, systems and process advisory. He is also the CEO of VCTR, a technology solutions company, and a co-founder of Heavy Chef, a learning platform for entrepreneurs where people are inspired to start and empowered to succeed.

Charles Mathews is a writer and entrepreneur who is driven by purpose, meaning, and value. A resilient problem solver, Charles worked in the founding teams at Daily Maverick, Idea Engineers, Naspers and Paymentology. Today Mathews is the CEO and Publisher of Inc.Africa.