The New Normal

May 13, 2020

Twitter just announced they may never go back to the office:

Wow. “Forever.”

Okay, let’s just forget for second what this means for the commercial real estate market.

What does this mean for culture?

I just gave a talk for Intel on how we can lead virtually and here are a few points to consider:

Leading by video is a different art form

You can’t get away with long, boring meetings anymore. You will lose everyone. You have to learn to get to the point quicker, get everyone on the same page, and keep people engaged.

The 8 Hour workday was never real

You really think your people were productive for 8 hours a day? Try three.  The good news, is we can do more in less time than we thought. But it’s going to take massive focus skills, which are dwindling away as everyone spends more and more time online with infinite distractions.  You no longer have the luxury of 10 different priorities. Focus your people.

Align people through time

I used to spend a week at a company to determine the health of its culture. Now I just ask one question – “Do you start and end meetings on time?” Cultures that value everyone’s time equally value integrity and the culture as a whole over any one individual. Cultures where leaders are late signal that some people can break rules while others can’t. And leaders convey that they’re actually out of control when they can’t even control their own calendars.  Be the example, be EARLY to everything, and notice how your respect levels go up and your stress levels go down.