The Nowhere Office The United State of Work featuring Brian Elliott
Mar 18, 2025
Brian Elliott, CEO of Work Forward and co-founder of Future Forum, shares his extensive insights on the future of work. He discusses the unpredictable return-to-office mandates and the stubborn presence of command-and-control management in corporate America. Brian highlights leadership's resistance to embrace change and delves into the political backdrop of the current DEI backlash. With contributions from various thought leaders, the conversation emphasizes the crucial need for hybrid work models that respect employees' individual needs, promoting flexibility and a healthier work-life balance.
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Slack Forum Origin Story
- Brian Elliott describes founding the Slack Forum in 2020 to research sudden remote-work shifts.
- He drew on 25 years of experience leading distributed teams at Google and Slack to learn fast.
Location Is A Red Herring
- Brian Elliott argues location is the least important factor in performance debates.
- Teams differ, so there's no universal magic number of office days that fits all.
Culture Claims Reflect Leader Bias
- Culture is often invoked to justify return-to-office mandates but means different things to leaders.
- Executives project their own career experiences onto what will rebuild culture, which may not match employees' needs.