5 Comments

Great article. One of the things I am noticing is that much of the anti-remote fervor, when it's not from anxious micromanagers, come from people who work in sales or sales-adjacent roles who now can't "walk the halls" at a company and get access to decision makers who buy their products.

Back when I was in consulting I was partner level, thus, measured on my book of business. One way you would grow the business is that you would be at company HQ based on your current service you were delivering and "design encounters" with the person who you would cross sell services to. People who sell that way these days complain... bitterly... that without a HQ to sell into they have a much harder time selling. This is *especially* true for people who sell things that people only buy with heavy sales effort... usually because the product is mediocre.

The net effect of this is that it's harder to sell crap products, and therefore, people who sell crap products are mad. Widespread work from home threatens their entire livelihood. No surprise you will see people in sales or consulting sponsoring pieces like this.

This isn't to say there aren't people who do a great job in sales in a WFH capacity. Some do, and people like that well love it! No more travel between customers means now I can visit more customers virtually. The winners in this scenario are people who can sell via credibility and goodwill earned over time. The losers are the people who use in person pressure tactics or otherwise lack credibility to get a real solution oriented meeting with a buyer.

Expand full comment

I want every one of these bloviating assholes who go on about the joys of commuting to prove they commute. Yeah my mind wandered when I commuted- to thoughts about how the train smelled like hot dogs, how it sucked to stand for 90 mins because there were no seats, how I wanted to throttle the asshole next to me talking on his phone. What a load of bullshit.

Expand full comment

When I read the title: "Remote work has a downside. Here’s why I want to go back to the office" I thought - "by all means Mark, go back to the office, just don't expect me to be there".

I think nearly 50% of the article are quotes from other books or articles, mostly appeal-to-authority logic. I don't think his assertion (plucked from other articles) that the office is the place where people have/had the most social interaction is wrong. But it's also confusing cause and effect. The reason people can't make connections in their private life is that they spend too much time commuting and at the office, especially if the "leadership" tries to push them into socializing even more with your co-workers. It's especially draining for introverts who deal better with social interactions in small doses and at their choice.

As a result, the skills required to make friends atrophy, or you might never develop them. In school and college/university you are dropped into a group of people superficially similar to you. The same sort of happens at corporations. But: As an adult, you should have a choice who you want to be social with and who not. It's very important to have friends outside of work, to actually have some social structure and maybe some connection to your community. Suburbs could actually be a lot more livable if people spent more time there instead of just going there to sleep.

It's also bit droll that a "best-selling author" writes that collaboration is important, since writing especially seems to me a solitary activity - even if you liberally quote from others.

Expand full comment