Bill Nussey’s Post

Constructive comments here Bill Nussey. I think the WFH conversation is being dominated by two extreme POVs. You have the camp that insists 100% WFH is superior and you have the crowd that says RTO 100% is required to succeed. I believe the optimal outcomes are much more nuanced and vary by job function and even across different corporate cultures and stages of career. In my own experience, I’ve seen breakthrough ideas emerge usually as the result of prolonged in-person work, which fosters trust, communication, and shared purpose.

Nike’s problems are much deeper than remote work. Low pay, lack of diversity, and remote location (Portland) resulting in an ability to attract top tier talent… not to mention an incredible hemmoraging of institutional knowledge that walked out their door because of higher paying tech jobs or not wanting to relocate to Portland. When you have highly creative teams, you need to be where the creatives are. And when you’re someone like Nike, who’s customer base is 60% people of color, perhaps being in a city where you can attract talent from those communities might help. Nikes CEO blaming zoom is a cop out.

I feel like this can be very situational. I have worked at companies where going in to work every day was stifling and very much NOT conducive to creative thought. Even within R&D and new product initiatives, they were too trapped 'inside the box'. Those conversations of chance were written off rather than explored and advanced. If you are connected emotionally to the people with whom you work (and to a lesser extent the products and services you support), I would argue that location is completely irrelevant. You find ways to connect remotely, make plans to hang out, and it creates purpose-driven meetings independent of location or modality. The idea or opportunity becomes the driving force, and like-minded individuals are driven towards each other because of the electricity the excitement generates. The past 2 years I have spent outside of an office have been the most freeing and enabling years of my career. I have an 'idea journal' that I have kept for years. It has only been within the last 2 years that I have had the opportunity to work towards putting them in motion. Both Engage and Tech Square Ventures sound like amazing places to foster free thought and creativity!

Our team in state government was probably less prepared for remote work when the pandemic hit. Prior to that we occasionally would carry a laptop home but had no regular cadence for telework. Within one week we went from that to fully remote for about 18 months. It was virtually seamless. Miraculously so. Our team created a group text thread and were in constant contact—actually more than in person. We were more productive than ever and accomplished so much during that time. Even employees who balked at the initial work from home order were not eager to return. Here’s my take: Hire adults and treat them like adults. Assume that they are able to determine what is most productive for them and their particular work. If that means 100% remote, provide the technology and resources to ensure those creative conversations can occur virtually. If it’s hybrid, let the team determine whether it’s better to be in office at the same time or ensure coverage. And of course, that’s likely what you are doing. But way too many managers (make that executives) have a 9-5, in the office, old school mentality and they are resisting a more productive way of working.

At the same time I feel like there is an opportunity for new creative spaces that can inspire creativity in brand new and even faster ways. We just have to think outside the box and experiment with what works and what doesn't. Plain and simple truth is that likely future generations will absolutely not be able to connect in the same ways we have in baby boomer and gen x interpersonally so even with more in person work that element of creative expression and idea sharing may be gone or lessened regardless of the work proximity. It's my opinion as a lifetime long/ultra distance runner that Nike lost their real creativity a long time ago so their example in my opinion is not a valid example. Vibrams, Hoka, On, and the list goes on... Stole market share because they innovated and Nike focused on marketing and branding rather than innovation long before large scale virtual working was even a thing imo.

So much is dependent upon the DNA of a single individual vs their work responsibilities. I can stand up examples of an individual, or a team, that 'should' prosper in a WFH setting, but flounder. Not due to leadership or lack of proper tools either. They thrive on being held to work commitments by colocation. It's not engineer v sales as you would expect. Truly individuals DNA. Like 'snowflakes', no two alike? (Was that too obvious?) All ages included...

Very interesting perspectives. Thanks for sharing! I find that with my team, we are more creative and moving faster in a remote (hybrid) environment. I think this speaks to our sandbox mentality and intentionality around accessibility, even in just small talk (similar to running into each other at the water cooler). On the same token, I find it hard to believe that the physical work location is the primary problem with Nike. If so, that’s concerning on many levels. Respectfully, I believe some of the drivers for burnout are fueled by after-meeting meetings and the number of unscheduled engagements that silently rob employees of their time.

Bill Nussey Gismopower gets the best of both worlds. We are not just a WFH company, we are a work from truck, work from train, work from car, and work from Boat Company. Since we are 100% family-owned we get our creative ideas from each other all the time in person and real-time. The small business industry has boomed, and of course the accelerator and incubator industry grows with it. Ultimately, a family-owned company can take and leave work day and night. Not everybody is made for this kind of life but I guess we were born for it.

Innovation and problem-solving feed on interactions... with customers, customer service reps, tech support, field service, in the new product lab, etc... In my experience, fully remote lowers the quality and frequency of these critical interactions. That said, we all need quiet time to gather & synthesize data, think, plan, etc. which IMO are much more successfully accomplished remotely. Striking the "perfect" balance is the hard part.

Most of my ideas are not created in “impromptu gatherings” but in introspective silence.