“Good work is about giving people greater freedom over their time”

Launched in September 2021, the RSA's Good Work Guild brings together a diverse global community of policymakers, investors, unions, grassroots problem-solvers, social entrepreneurs, start-ups, worker advocates and business leaders looking to shape the future of work. 

Based in the Netherlands, Seth Trudeau joined the Guild as an advisor. He is the managing partner of Routine Chaos, a boutique product and service design consultancy that works with product leaders and teams to improve quality of life and human potential.  Seth shares how his understanding of “good work” has evolved through the diverse interactions he’s had in his work.  

What is keeping you motivated these days? 

It feels like we’re at the cusp of something really interesting around distributed creation and collaboration. There has been a mindset shift and a significant increase in the number of tools that take the friction out of the kind of distributed work that people used to insist had to be done by collocated teams. I see it as a huge opportunity for millions of people who have historically been sidelined because of geographic (and political) barriers to be a part of co-creating global products, services, and experiences.  

What has shaped your understanding of “good work”? 

Most recently, a lot of my understanding has been reshaped due to working with a lot of people starting their “professional lives.” I’ve seen a kind of diversity that didn’t feel like was available to me in what these individuals want and their ability to make it happen. I’ve seen aspiring entrepreneurs, highly skilled freelancers, and small service agencies. I’ve met people running side hustles and people working two full-time data analyst roles at the same time. It has made me start to think of good work as more of a function of giving people greater freedom over their time. 

 Where do you want to see breakthrough change? 

In the field of education, I think there’s a window opening to spread more progressive, constructivist approaches for multi-generational and lifelong learning. We can start seeing the world as a natural learning environment more powerful than a classroom or school building.