When cities like San Francisco prohibited companies from using their offices in 2020 as COVID spread, we learned something remarkable: the physical office was not essential to white-collar work. Something long regarded as indispensable suddenly became optional.
Today, companies have differing views on the office. Many have called employees back, believing people are more productive when working together. Others may simply want greater oversight of how employees spend their time. Whatever the motivation, the office is now a choice.
Technology is not.
Consider what happens when Microsoft 365 goes down (something I'm experiencing as I write this). Email stops working. And while many of us might welcome a world less consumed by email, few would dispute its importance to modern business. Imagine the disruption if, in 2020, we lost our technology instead of access to our offices.
Over my three-decade career, virtually every aspect of my business has become dependent on technology. Imagine reverting to how we worked when I started. Sending letters through the mail (when was the last time you received one at your office?). Relying on someone to answer a telephone. Or simply walking into someone's office unannounced, hoping for a meeting (good luck getting past lobby security). Once commonplace, these practices are now largely obsolete.
The deconstruction of modern work is accelerating.
Artificial intelligence is the latest and potentially most consequential catalyst. But unlike earlier technological advances that transformed how people work, AI threatens to redefine who or what performs the work itself.
We may be entering a new era in which companies discover that people, like the offices they once occupied, are less essential to getting work done. I believe this to be true. Yet I’m also hopeful we’ll see large-scale innovation, the creation of many new ways for people to work and be productive. I continue to believe it’s valuable, even essential, for people to come together and work collaboratively toward common goals.