From ‘Power Over’ to ‘Meaningful Purpose With:’ Why Logoteleology’s OD 2.0 Echoes the Spirit of the American Founding
- Luis A. Marrero
- May 8
- 4 min read
Luis A. Marrero, May 8, 2025
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
The preamble to the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776.
The American Experience Was Designed—Not Inherited
In 1776, a group of visionaries did something the world had rarely seen: they designed not just a new government, but a new human experience. The Founding Fathers of the United States began with a radical question:
What kind of life should people be free to live?
Their answer became the foundation of what we now call the American Experience—a deliberate design rooted in liberty, dignity, opportunity, and the pursuit of happiness. Only after articulating this vision did they construct a system—a Constitution, a Bill of Rights, and three co-equal branches of government—to deliver and protect it.
This experience-first-design™ approach stands in sharp contrast to the authoritarian structures they sought to escape. In monarchies, oligarchies, and other forms of dictatorships, the structure comes first, and people are expected to submit to it. But the American model insisted that structure must serve the experience.
This isn’t just history. It’s a principle. And it’s one that Organization Development is overdue to reclaim.
Legacy Organizational Design: The Structure-First Trap
In most modern organizations, structure precedes experience. Strategy is built to drive financial outcomes, not human fulfillment, as if they were incompatible. Workflows, hierarchies, systems, and KPIs are defined before anyone asks, 'What kind of experience do we want our employees, customers, and other key stakeholders to have?'
In these traditional models:
Labor is viewed as a cost center, rather than a source of meaning, innovation, and prosperity.
Talent is often squeezed into predefined roles rather than being invited into a shared, meaningful purpose.
Systems are designed to control behavior rather than cultivate intrinsic motivation.
This structure-first paradigm is organizational authoritarianism by another name. Like autocracies, it favors the power of the few over the experience of the many.
OD 2.0: A Return to Democratic Design
Enter Organization Development 2.0 (OD 2.0)—a Logoteleological approach that reclaims the principle of experience-first design™.
Just as the American Founders envisioned a life worth living before constructing government, OD 2.0 begins by asking:
What is the meaningful experience we want our people, customers, and other stakeholders to have every day?
OD 2.0 follows this sequence:
Immerse all stakeholders in Logoteleology, the science of meaningful purpose.
Co-create a strategic plan that prioritizes meaningful culture.
Design desired experiences for leaders, employees, and customers.
Engineer roles, structures, systems, and processes to deliver those experiences - experiences that are delightful, energizing, and intrinsically motivating
Deploy the right talent in the right places for meaningful, profitable work.
Measure outcomes based on meaning and value, not just compliance, output, and profit.
Quantify and validate the impact of meaningfulness on profit.
This is not just a new model—it’s a new moral order in organizational life.
The American Spirit in the Workplace
We often speak of the “American Dream” as something tied to economics. But the deeper, more enduring concept is the American Experience—a lived reality rooted in agency, aspiration, and belonging. This is the “secret sauce” behind centuries of U.S. creativity, innovation, and resilience.
OD 2.0 channels that same spirit:
From hierarchy to harmony
From profit-first to meaningful purpose-aligned
From worker as resource to worker as meaning-maker
From motivation by fear to motivation by the Meaning of Life
From task orientation to doing something noble, meaningful, and prosperous
It honors what the Founders understood: that flourishing people create flourishing systems. Not the other way around.
A Logoteleological Democratic Future for Organizations
We are at a tipping point. Engagement is declining. Mental health is strained. Burnout is epidemic. People are not disengaged because they lack character—they are disengaged because they lack meaningful experiences at work.
OD 2.0 is the invitation to reclaim the promise of organizations—to build systems worthy of human potential.
Like the American Revolution, this is not merely about structural change. It is about liberation through meaning.
We’ve tried the monarchies of management. It’s time we design for the democracy of logoteleological meaningful purpose.
Introduction to Organization Development 2.0
If you wish to learn the fundamental theories of how to design and implement the logoteleological principle of experience-first design ™, join this introductory, eye-opening, and highly engaging Introduction to Second Wave Organization Development (OD 2.0) to discover how to:
Diagnose the foundational flaws in current organizational theory and design—and understand how these flaws compromise both people and performance.
Break free from legacy models that objectify workers and suppress creativity and intrinsic motivation.
Harness the power of shared meaningful purpose to unleash engagement, resilience, and sustainable profitability.
Reimagine your role as an OD leader through the lens of Logoteleology and learn how to become a Second Wave OD Practitioner equipped to build organizations where people and profits thrive together.
Event Details
WHEN: Thursday, June 5, 2025
TIME: 1:00 – 4:30 PM EST
VENUE: Virtual Zoom
REGISTRATION & INQUIRIES: Register Here
INVESTMENT: $39.99
Facilitator
Luis A. Marrero
CEO, Boston Institute for Meaningful Purpose
Pioneer of Logoteleology and Second Wave OD
Who Should Attend:
OD and Change Management Consultants
Organizational Psychologists
HR Leaders and People Strategists
Executive Coaches and Talent Development Professionals
Anyone seeking to lead truly transformational change in today's workplace
Be part of a movement to shape the future of organizational development—one that institutionalizes meaningful purpose, dignity, sustainability, and prosperity to the heart of business.
About the Author
Luis A. Marrero is the founder of the Boston Institute for Meaningful Purpose, the pioneer of Logoteleology, and the creator of Organization Development 2.0. His work focuses on creating thriving human systems through the science of meaningful purpose. Learn more at www.bostonimp.com.
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