The Art of Matching.
What if the quality of our society is mostly determined by the quality of the matches we make? This book is my exploration of that question, and you can already read along.
Why this book needs to exist
In my work at 8vance and on hundreds of stages, I see the same pattern: organisations rarely lack talent, money or ambition. What they lack are good matches, between people and work, between supply and demand, between technology and human value.
The Art of Matching explores what it takes to make those matches better: what role AI plays, what organisations need to let go of, and what it asks of leadership and humanity. The book is still being written. That’s deliberate: I’m writing it in public, and thinkers, clients and readers shape it with me.
You can already read the current version at theartofmatching.com. The book lives there and keeps growing with new insights, conversations and research.
For anyone who wants to see work differently
For anyone wrestling daily with vacancies that won’t fill, while sensing the talent is actually out there.
For leaders making decisions about AI, organisational structure and the future of work who would rather act from a clear vision than follow the hype.
For anyone who has ever wondered whether we could bring work, talent and technology together more intelligently.
Three chapters, one common thread
The book is still growing, but the core of each chapter is already there: these are the three movements The Art of Matching revolves around.
The myth of scarcity
Shortages are real, and at the same time organisations rarely see what people can do and can learn. This chapter is about that blind spot.
What AI sees that we don’t
How AI makes tasks, skills and potential visible beyond diplomas and job titles, and why that visibility alone isn’t enough.
The art of letting go
Why better matches require different organisations: from control to trust, from jobs to tasks, from CV to context.
“Potential matters more than the past.”
From The Art of Matching
Four questions that run through it
What makes a good match?
Not just a diploma next to a job ad, but the question of how potential, tasks and context really fit together.
What does AI do to matching?
AI makes patterns visible that people can’t see. But visibility alone doesn’t change an organisation.
What does this ask of organisations?
From jobs to tasks, from CVs to skills, from control to trust. Structural change is human work.
What does this ask of us?
If matching happens everywhere, the question becomes more urgent: who do we want to be in that process, and who do we see?
A taste of what’s to come
Three articles closely related to the thinking behind The Art of Matching.
From diploma to proof, from vacancy to skill
The foundation of skills-based matching, in practice.
Read the article → ArticleWhy labour shortage is often an organisational issue
Scarcity is rarely a real shortage. It’s usually a visibility problem.
Read the article → InsightsMore thinking at laurenswaling.com
All articles, questions and observations in one place.
Go to Insights →Leave your email.
You’ll hear from me as soon as a new version of The Art of Matching is ready, and occasionally a relevant update on what I’m working on.
Prefer a keynote first?
The Art of Matching is also the core of several talks. Tell me about your event and I’ll suggest a format that fits.
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