The majority of our sessions at the 2025 Spring Seminar were held under Chatham House Rule or Off-the-record. Below are some anonymized terms and quotes to help continue the conversation. Have any terms we missed? Email jconway@page.org to suggest additions!

Calm, Patient and Good-Humored.

Attendees kept coming back to the last Page Principle time and time again. While we can’t control the external influences that we are all subject to, we can all work to embody this principle for our org, team and ourselves, laying the groundwork for success with consistent and reasoned attention to information and stakeholders.

6-Generation Workforce

With the coming-of-age of Generation Alpha, we now have 6 generations in the labor market. For the younger generations, Page research shows that a greater focus on mental health is required to meet their expectations. For older generations, addressing corruption is a growing expectation for organizations. But while it is helpful to understand workers by their generation, it’s important to not overgeneralize based on age. Understanding your employees based on the person, not just generalizations based on demographic information, is critical to engaging the workforce.

Value Shift

As elections across the globe proved, there has been a significant shift in values in various countries, and according to one of our panelists, it does not appear to be a temporary shift. For many organizations in the private sector, the key to surviving this shift will be nonpartisanship, not bipartisanship. When seeking to engage with the government, organizations should seek to influence policy, not politics. If dealing with the U.S. Presidential administration, for example, remember that the current administration prefers transactional relationships, so lean into your organization’s contributions to the economy or domestic labor market.

Cultural Clarity  

Communicators need to take a leading role in establishing a clear and well-defined culture for their organizations. That includes establishing cultural values, and setting shared expectations for their employees’ behavior. One of the biggest risks to establishing cultural clarity is the current political climate, which is marked by incivility. As one speaker mentioned, “for every instance of incivility, it takes the person affected an average of 37 minutes to recover and return to productivity.” By failing to establish a culture of civility, organizations are losing out on thousands of hours of productivity a year. Working with HR to create cultural expectations, and communicate them, is crucial to creating a clear culture and fully engaging your workforce.

Climate Shock

In our conversations regarding sustainability and ESG, a number of speakers spoke on the importance of proving the climate crisis is active. As one speaker explained, “Many investors have said they would rather let something hit a crisis, than do something seen as anticipatory.” Another mentioned how they speak about climate change in terms of shocks to the economy, many of which are actively occurring, to prove the argument for sustainability investments. While the term “ESG” has become poisoned for many, the work is still ongoing. As one speaker mentioned, “I am not going to die on the large hill of ESG, but I will die on each smaller hill of the strategy that we need to execute against.”

Third Spaces

Spaces that are not work, and not home. Even before the pandemic, there has been a noted loss in third spaces, and as a result, community. The result is a public that is lonely, disillusioned, and divided. As individuals, and as organizations, investing in these third spaces is going to be critical in reducing polarization and increasing the overall happiness of our society.