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All you need to know about requiring work from an office is this: the people selling the supposed benefits of increased collaboration, creativity, and productiv

by nzmsv 5y ago

All you need to know about requiring work from an office is this: the people selling the supposed benefits of increased collaboration, creativity, and productivity do not themselves work this way. There is no CEO or VC who spends their entire day sitting in a cubicle, even if they have a token one.

mgkimsal 5y ago
Well, their output is measured differently too, so I'd expect their work actions and locations to be different. If the ceo was expected to produce output that was suited to working in a cubicle, they would do that, but that's not how their output is measured.
- nzmsv 5y ago
  But sitting in a cubicle can be bad for you even if it helps your productivity metrics in the short term.
downandout 5y ago
Yes, something tells me Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t spend much time in his cubicle. He also has the peace of mind of knowing that whenever he feels like it, he can have any of a number of places on campus all to himself. So going to work in a cubicle/public space isn’t nearly the same psychological experience for him that it is for regular workers there.
01100011 5y ago
That is worth mentioning, but it is far from 'all you need to know'. My job role is completely different from the CEO of my company, so I wouldn't expect them to work in the same environment I do. If my CEO's job entailed sitting in a cubicle all day I'd find another company to work for.
- justrudd 5y ago
  Reminds me of a place I worked 7 or 8 years ago? The CEO was big on the “I’m just one of you” trope. They had a cubicle the same as everyone else. They dropped their bag off every morning, had pictures, a couple of plants, etc. But… There was a conference room literally right across from their cubicle that had a recurring 10 hour 5 day a week meeting in it. 2 guesses who that recurring meeting belonged to.
malaya_zemlya 5y ago
YMMV at my last job, at one of the Bay Area unicorns, I sat right across the founder's desk and he was working there like the rest of us.
compiler-guy 5y ago
This really isn't true, or at least not of many CEOs. The classic being Andy Grove, but many others have also sat in cubes with the rest of the workers: === Back in 1995, a BusinessWeek profile of Grove said he sat in a cube "precisely to eliminate barriers between chief executive and staff. When he is around, anybody can stop by and bend his ear, even to tell him he screwed up on a decision. There's no fear of getting fired -- Grove encourages what he calls 'constructive confrontation.' " https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/03/25/andy-grove-was-the-godfather-of-modern-tech-ceos/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/03...

by nzmsv 5y ago

mgkimsal 5y ago

Well, their output is measured differently too, so I'd expect their work actions and locations to be different. If the ceo was expected to produce output that was suited to working in a cubicle, they would do that, but that's not how their output is measured.

nzmsv 5y ago
But sitting in a cubicle can be bad for you even if it helps your productivity metrics in the short term.

downandout 5y ago

Yes, something tells me Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t spend much time in his cubicle. He also has the peace of mind of knowing that whenever he feels like it, he can have any of a number of places on campus all to himself. So going to work in a cubicle/public space isn’t nearly the same psychological experience for him that it is for regular workers there.

01100011 5y ago

That is worth mentioning, but it is far from 'all you need to know'. My job role is completely different from the CEO of my company, so I wouldn't expect them to work in the same environment I do. If my CEO's job entailed sitting in a cubicle all day I'd find another company to work for.

justrudd 5y ago
Reminds me of a place I worked 7 or 8 years ago? The CEO was big on the “I’m just one of you” trope. They had a cubicle the same as everyone else. They dropped their bag off every morning, had pictures, a couple of plants, etc. But… There was a conference room literally right across from their cubicle that had a recurring 10 hour 5 day a week meeting in it. 2 guesses who that recurring meeting belonged to.

malaya_zemlya 5y ago

YMMV at my last job, at one of the Bay Area unicorns, I sat right across the founder's desk and he was working there like the rest of us.

compiler-guy 5y ago

This really isn't true, or at least not of many CEOs. The classic being Andy Grove, but many others have also sat in cubes with the rest of the workers: === Back in 1995, a BusinessWeek profile of Grove said he sat in a cube "precisely to eliminate barriers between chief executive and staff. When he is around, anybody can stop by and bend his ear, even to tell him he screwed up on a decision. There's no fear of getting fired -- Grove encourages what he calls 'constructive confrontation.' " https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/03/25/andy-grove-was-the-godfather-of-modern-tech-ceos/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2016/03...