Poets & Thinkers The Optimization Lie: Will AI finally give us the freedom “new work” promised us? – with journalist and author Markus Albers
Digitalization promised us a brave “new work” world. But instead we ended up with more meetings and “fake work”. What’s next and how do we transform our obsession with productivity tools and endless meetings into meaningful work and real innovation?
In this episode of Poets & Thinkers, we explore the future of work with Markus Albers, a Berlin-based journalist, author, and entrepreneur whose insights have consistently anticipated major shifts in how we work. From his prescient 2008 book predicting remote work to his latest exploration of “the optimization lie,” Markus reveals how our relationship with work has evolved – and why the promised freedom of digital tools has instead chained us to our screens.
Markus takes us on a journey through the changing landscape of work, explaining how the initial promise of technology to free us from our desks has instead created an “always on” culture where work seeps into every aspect of our lives. He shares alarming research showing knowledge workers now spend 60% of their time in meetings and collaboration rather than doing creative work – and how this leads to widespread dissatisfaction and disengagement. And the effects on innovation in businesses around the world are fatal. Yet through his research with companies like Bayer, he also uncovers promising models for a more fluid, fulfilling future of work powered by AI and skill-based platforms.
Throughout our conversation, Markus challenges conventional management approaches that prioritize control over creation, arguing that leaders need to rediscover their own creative capacities and build organizations where people can actually finish their days feeling they’ve accomplished something meaningful. His vision for the future of work emphasizes fluidity, cross-organizational collaboration, and technology that serves human needs rather than extracting maximum productivity.
In this inspiring discussion, we explore:
- Why the initial promise of technology to make us more productive and happier hasn’t materialized
- How managers’ fear of losing control has led to calendar overload and measurement obsession
- The identity crisis facing managers as AI threatens to replace routine work
- What organizations like Bayer are doing to create more fluid, skill-based work models
- How leaders can fight for freedom from constant work in an AI-powered future
This episode is an invitation to reimagine our relationship with work—to move beyond optimization for its own sake and create environments where people can truly create, ship, and find fulfillment.
Topics
02:30 - Markus’s journey from journalist to author and entrepreneur
04:00 - The Meconomy book and its early vision of the digital revolution
07:30 - The evolution of the "future of work" from liberation to digital exhaustion
09:10 - How we freed ourselves from desk chains but chained ourselves to screens instead
11:30 - Leaders’ fear of losing control in hybrid work environments
12:30 - The need to rediscover our capacity to create and ship meaningful work
14:30 - Microsoft research showing knowledge workers spend 60% of time on collaboration
16:00 - The leadership challenge of reconfiguring how work is done
17:00 - The importance of asynchronous communication skills for leaders
18:40 - The growing debate about “bullshit jobs” and management bureaucracy
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