The New Corner Office manifesto

How to succeed in the new world of work

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
new world of work, where location and ours are more
flexible than in the past. Today's episode is the last

(00:25):
new episode of The New Corner Office. It has been
fascinating to me to talk about the new world of work.
Over the past nine months. I have learned a lot,
and I hope you have to. When I started this
podcast in April, we weren't sure how long the pandemic
would last and how long big numbers of people would
be working from home. The good news is that new

(00:48):
vaccines are bringing hope things we'll go back to normal,
which is one reason that it's time for me to
wind this project down. That said, as a new year begins,
many people have adapted to working from home long term.
My guess is that vaccines are not The world of

(01:09):
work has changed permanently. We have learned that much information
work does not need to be done in an office
at set times for forty hours a week. There are
huge benefits to seeing each other in person. That is
absolutely true, but this is not an either or situation.

(01:30):
When people can work in person, sometimes and remotely. Sometimes
they will have the best of both worlds. Over the
next few years, I see a new normal developing. Companies
will adapt to a set up where teams get together
in person for a week or so every month. They'll

(01:50):
concentrate their in person socializing in deep collaboration on those days.
Then the other three weeks or so per month will
feature remote work, with various calls and video conferences as necessary. Now,
there are a few reasons that I see this new
normal as a good idea. For one, if you're getting
people together for a week a month, you could probably

(02:14):
just rent temporary conference space. You don't need to own
a headquarters. Money that isn't going into maintaining a gleaming
office space can go to salaries and operations. This is
likely a more efficient use of capital. Second, if you're
getting together for a week a month, you can hire

(02:36):
from just about anywhere. This lets you hire better people,
because why on earth would all the best people live
within an hour of your headquarters. Why would you imagine
that the best people could easily pack up and move
their families to you. By changing the in person requirement,

(02:56):
you can separate the question of where people live from
where they work, and when you don't require people to
have the same answer for both, you massively open up
the talent pool. I also think that the ability to
work from home a substantial proportion of the time can
be a strategic advantage for people who want to build long,

(03:17):
sustainable careers. People who work from home tend to be
happier and more productive because they can work how they
work best. If you love loud music, well that's awesome.
You can't play your loud bagpipe tunes at the office,
but you probably can at home. If you work better
in a colder environment or a warmer environment, that's great.

(03:40):
Keep the thermostat at your happy place. Be there to
greet the kids when they get off the bus, Go
network with someone external in the middle of the day,
and no one will wonder where you went. We've learned
over the last few months that most of the day
to day operations of white collar work can in fact
be done virtually. We love to complain about zoom fatigue,

(04:04):
but seeing people's faces on a screen is about as
good for communication of seeing them in person. I have
really good friends who I realize I've only seen in
person half a dozen times or so. I just talked
with them by FaceTime or zoom all the time. Before
the pandemic, a huge number of people were battling traffic

(04:24):
for an hour each way just to spend eight of
their days emailing and calling people in other places. This
was a huge waste of human time and environmental resources.
In the New Corner Office, we do things differently. I'm
ending this podcast as a standalone project. We've covered a

(04:48):
lot of ground in two hundred episodes, and they'll continue
to be here as a resource for people who are
working flexibly and remotely. I'll also start folding more of
my career content into Before Breakfast, which is my other
every weekday morning podcast. If you don't already subscribe to
that podcast, please check it out. I'll also be posting

(05:10):
career related articles under the New Corner Office header at
my blog, Laura Vanderkam dot com, so please come visit
me there too. Over the past nine months, we've learned
that when it comes to work, location and hours can
be more flexible than in the past. As we enter
year two, I think it's worth spending some time figuring

(05:30):
out how even more things can be reimagined. I've been
doing more virtual speeches lately, and I've been figuring out
how professional development content can work when you're not up
on stage in a big conference center. I am starting
to see some really cool virtual conference concepts and people
forming virtual mastermind groups that combines socializing and career growth.

(05:54):
I see people starting to experiment with how they work,
switching up hours and managing by task rather than time.
Eventually we get the rhythm right, So thank you for
joining me here over the last few months as we've
figured out how to thrive in the new world of work.

(06:15):
This journey continues even if this particular podcast does not.
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For

(06:36):
more podcasts, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your favorite shows.