Geoff Smart is the #1 thought leader on the #1 topic in business. He is the Chairman & Founder of ghSMART, a leadership consulting firm, and his purpose is to help leaders amplify their positive impact on the world.
Don’t come back to work.
Instead, move forward in leading your company and managing your career by embracing remote work, at least to some extent.
Even though ghSMART has been remote-only for 26 years now, it never fully registered with me how enthusiastic I am about remote work until I started hearing that many companies are forcing workers to come back into offices every day.
Smarties! It is exciting to mark 26 years and going strong! And getting stronger!!
THE BEGINNING. It’s so weird, I remember how I felt at the beginning of our firm’s life. (Cue the top hit songs on June 16, 1995 which were “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” by Bryan Adams, “Water Runs” by Boyz II Men, and “Total Eclipse of the Heart” By Nicki French in the U.S., and “Unchained Melody” by White Cliffs of Dover in the U.K.).
The days of “management by walking around” are over.
Business books from the 1980s encouraged managers to wander around the office, chit-chat with colleagues, and learn valuable information at the water cooler. Today, leaders of all size organizations find themselves managing people remotely.
In recent weeks, I have discussed this with the CEO of a global public company, the student body president of an Ivy League university, the Executive Director of a not-for-profit that builds bridges in developing economies, the founder of a protein bar startup, a U.S. Senator (who manages D.C. and hometown office staffs), and the head of a private equity firm with offices in several countries.
