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Individual Articles
Past Issues (2009-2010. For earlier issues contact Jim Ware)
Individual Articles (2009 - 2010)
Selected individual articles from Future of Work Agenda are available here. They are listed in reverse chronological order.
Sustainability with a Capital "S" html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (June 2010)
Sustainability is about much more than environmental impact analyses. True long-term sustainability for both businesses and the communities where they reside must also include attention to wealth generation and the building of social capital. Using the BP oil spill disaster as a case in point this article presents a practical view of how both public and private sectors leaders can move towards true Sustainability—with a capital "S."
A Practical Approach to Sustainability html pdf
by Ted Ritter (June 2010)
Ted Ritter, President of the Greater Phoenix Chapter of IFMA (International Facilities Management Association) offers some very practical advice about Sustainability to facilities managers. He led the formation and operation of a "Facilities Managers Green Peer Group" that both educated its members and produced dramatic real-world results.
Managing Electronic Communication Among Distributed Workers html pdf
by Bill "Patch" Paczkowski (May 2010)
Companies are in a bind with people who work away from the central office for the majority of their time. On one hand, employers want to encourage informal social interaction to promote innovation and engagement, and to reduce isolation from the larger work team. On the other hand, companies have legitimate business purposes and legal obligations to manage electronic communications.
Notes: The Future of . . . html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (May 2010)
This is our monthly composite note, this month highlighting interesting and important trends in Technology, Place and Space, People and Organizations,, and Work Design. This month we also announce the formation of a new Future of Work Collaborative and an outstanding group of Future of Work Associates. And as always we also highlight our own travels and client work.
Feature: Guess What? The Sky Isn't Falling html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (April 2010)
The next wave of growth in the United States will generate 100 million new residents. Overwhelmingly these new citizens will locate in America’s heartland and its outer suburbs. These areas will become the preferred location for talent. Businesses must understand and adapt to this demographic shift in order to compete successfully for innovators and entrepreneurs.
Notes: The Future of . . . html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (April 2010)
This is our monthly composite note, this month highlighting interesting and important trends in Place and Space, and Work Design. We also highlight our own travels and client work.
Feature: The Pendulum Swings html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (March 2010)
The forces of history are conspiring to shift the center of control in our society away from institutions and towards local community groups. This trend is true for education, governance, commerce, and our spiritual life.
Notes: The Future of . . . html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (March 2010)
This is our monthly composite note, this month highlighting interesting and important trends in Technology and Place and Space. We also highlight our own travels and client work.
Feature: There's More to Count Than Beans html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (February 2010)
This is the last in a series of articles on Business Community Centerssm (BCC's): the why, the how, and the wherefores. We conclude this month with an explanation of how to make money with a BCC.
Notes: The Future of . . . html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (February 2010)
This is the first of our monthly composite notes highlighting interesting and important trends in Technology, Place and Space, People and Organizations, and Work Design. We also regularly include a brief book review; this month the bookshelf describes The Next 100 Years.
Feature: Experience the Design html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (January 2010)
Business Community Centers™ must be designed to maximize the positive social experience of using them as a place to work. We propose using a design process based on stagecraft—where work in the future is seen as theatre.
Compass: Igniting the Burning Platform html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham(January 2010)
There's one thing we do know about the future: 2010 will be full of change. And the survivors will be the firms (and the individuals) who know how to "ride the tide" and turn a crisis into an opportunity. Effective leaders generate a strong and widespread sense of urgency about the need for change.
Notes: Our Own Top 10
html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (January 2010)
To keep pace with all the professional pundits, we revisit our 2009 newsletters and report the ten most-read articles from among the thirty-plus we offered up last year.
Feature: Location, Location, Location html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (December 2009)
You should choose a location for a Business Community Center(tm)(BCC) using a reliable analytic process. Based on data from numerous case studies of both success and failure, we are convinced that a systematic approach to selecting a BCC location will promote a positive business outcome. There are eleven factors that must be considered even before you conduct a site-specific analysis.
Compass: Back to Basics: Change Management 101
html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (December 2009)
Change Management: it's one of those core ideas that everyone talks about-and everyone thinks they understand. However, in our experience too many people talk about change management without really thinking about how individuals and groups actually experience, and respond to, significant change. We offer here a simple three-factor model of the drivers of change that we've found exceptionally helpful over the years.
Notes from the Field: A "Weak Signal" About Leadership in 2010 html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (November 2009)
A key component of our Private Client Network in 2010 will be a series of "weak signal" reports. We will be an early warning system for external influences, paying particular attention to "weak signals" that may not appear to be critical today but will be impossible to ignore within 24 months. This Note is an excerpt from one those "weak signal" reports.
Feature: The Triple Bottom Line html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (November 2009)
This is the third part of a six-part series on the emergence of Business Community CentersTM. This month we consider how to assess their value and impact. The triple bottom line measures not only financial performance, or profit, but also incorporates reliable measures of impacts on the environment (planet) and communities (people).
Compass: Can We Survive the Internet? html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (November 2009)
We're not worried about whether the Internet will survive. No, the question is whether we, as human beings and workers, can survive what the Internet is doing to us. Of course, it's also impossible to imagine the future of work without the Internet. But we are concerned about how we're turning into a culture of "I want it right now!"
Field Notes: Older Workers and the Job Market html pdf
by William Arnold, Ph.D (November 2009)
For some time now we have been throwing out cautionary signals that in the United States there is an impending knowledge worker shortage within the next five to seven years. In spite of the current economy we believe that a shortage of 10 million knowledge workers is coming — and soon. Our guest columnist this month is an expert gerontologist who has a view that should be heard: a significant portion of that gap will be filled by seniors, but that age group has particular challenges and needs.
Feature: The Dismal Science Dives into a Dismal Swamp html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (October 2009)
The rules that dominated an industrial, product-based economy don't work anymore. We offer up four basic new "rules" that recognize uncertainty and promote agility. These rules drive us towards a network of smaller workplaces that are geographically dispersed.
Compass: Pay Attention! To What? html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (October 2009)
We all know the importance of having an explicit business strategy and an aligned, engaged organization fully capable of implementing your vision, but what good are well-defined goals when you are (metaphorically speaking), in a windowless car hurtling through a dark night with no compass, no x-ray vision, and no sense of the outside geography?
Feature: Social Forces Driving a Simpler Way of Working html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (September 2009)
Large, complex organizations have reached their limit of manageability in the Western world. One of the responses to this "crisis of complexity" is a radical transformation in basic business models. This transformation will lead to a move away from centralized, fixed-cost real estate assets and towards smaller, networked locations in local communities where the needed talent is living. This is the first in a series of articles exploring this trend in the workplace.
Compass: Going Mobile Overnight html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (September 2009)
The 2009 flu season is upon us. Most of us know there's a greater risk than normal in 2009 because of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as Swine Flu. While many organizations have detailed business continuity and risk abatement plans for pandemics and other disruptions, our experience suggests that very few of those plans include the best response of all: a remote/mobile work program.
Feature: Is This a Nice Place to Live, Or What? html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (July 2009)
This is the last in a series of three articles about transformation. We know that what is happening right now across the planet is historic, permanent, and unstoppable. The changes will be felt in all aspects of life; work, learning, and play. Our conversation this month focuses on your local community. We offer you a set of questions to ask your neighbors in order to sense where your community is going: will it become a better place to live and work, or will it sink into obsolescence?
Compass: What are You Waiting For? html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (July 2009)
Brace yourself: here we go again. This is a flat-out rant about why your organization is really off-base, and potentially in trouble, if you're not actively promoting flexible/mobile work for as many of your knowledge worker employees as possible.
Notes from the Field: Why is Adopting Mobility Taking So Long? html pdf
by Larry Barkley (July 2009)
Much has been written in many places over the past several years on mobility, Alternative Workplace Strategies, and all the issues surrounding the implementation of new ways of working. Yet, despite all of this impressive work and study, it appears that adoption by the end-user business community has not risen to anywhere near the level of our theory and beliefs. So, we've had to ask once again: "Why is that?" Larry Barkley provides some insightful perspectives on this perplexing question.
Feature: Scotty, Take It Up To Warp Factor 5.6! html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (June 2009)
This is the second of a three-part series exploring what fundamental change looks like. It's irreversible, substantive, changes our identity, and shifts our purpose. This article takes a deep dive into where that kind of dramatic change is happening in our society and considers what it may mean for our collective future.
Compass: Putting the Horse Before the Cart html pdf
by Bruce J. Rogow (June 2009)
We are pleased to share with you some excerpts from a recent conversation we had with Bruce J. Rogow. Bruce is an experienced IT/business consultant and researcher who conducts an annual "listening" tour with over 100 senior IT executives and CEOs. He's been kind enough to provide us with a summary of several very important insights he's picking up from his recent conversations.
Field Notes: Where Next for London? html pdf
by Richard Leyland (June 2009)
This first-person note serves as an "on the ground" example of exactly what we're talking about in the feature article, above. Richard Leyland lives and works in London, advising companies on the future of work and the workplace. Over the last twelve months London has undergone a seismic shock, which could scarcely have been greater had the very buildings fallen.
Feature: Someone Hit the Reset Button html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (May 2009)
Fundamental transformation is happening right now in our economy and society. This month we begin a three-part series to look at the nature of this change in detail. The first installment this month is about the basic nature of transformation. It is irreversible, substantive in nature, changes our identity, and shifts our purpose to a higher level.
Compass: Back to Basics: Measurement Matters html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (May 2009)
April 23 was Earth Day. An intriguing column in that day's San Francisco Chronicle got us thinking once more about the critical importance of what and how we measure the things we're trying to manage—and transform.
Field Notes: Will the Office of the Future Need Furniture? html pdf
by Michael Dunlap (May 2009)
The "office of the future" cannot simply be an improved version from the past. It must be reinvented to meet the needs of how we actually work, not how the designers, engineers, and manufacturers would like us to work.
Feature: Lights, Camera, Inter-action! html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (April 2009)
Communication (one of the most basic of human activities) is the social glue that binds people together in groups, teams, and communities. It's trite only because it's true: business relationships don't go anywhere or produce mutual benefit without effective communication.
Compass: Now What? html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (April 2009)
Commercial real estate is one of the most poorly managed strategic assets in the vast majority of organizations. First, we know that most employees only "occupy" their assigned workspaces about 25-30 percent of the average work day. You, Mister or Madam CEO, are paying for all the rest of that time the space is empty.
Field Notes: Seven Ways to Manage Yourself html pdf
by Bary Sherman, PEP Productivity Solutions (April 2009)
Like all professionals you are struggling to cope with today's massive workload. You are being asked to provide increased and more diversified service to either or both internal and external customers with less staff. How can you accomplish the seemingly impossible? Here are seven very tactical recommendations from an experienced expert on personal productivity.
Feature: Getting Things in Order html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (March 2009)
Building capability into an organization requires first concentrating your process, then bringing order to it, and finally constructing effective interactions with customers. This article is about order, the second in a series of three.
Compass: There are Only Two Kinds of Companies
html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (March 2009)
It's time to think outside the box; this a call for a radical rethinking of what kind of assets you should own, and what kind you should avoid at all costs.
Field Notes: Finding Your Right Work html pdf
by Jim Horan, One Page Business Plan Company (March 2009)
If you have not lost your job, it's likely you are in fear that you will. If you have lost your job recently, Jim Horan truly understands the pain you are feeling, He's been there.
Concentrating on Concentration html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (February 2009)
Your real estate, human resources, and technology portfolios are 30% overloaded. To survive you have to concentrate your attention and focus your actions down to the bare essentials, shedding excess assets and processes. We offer five steps for getting there.
Our 2009 Strategy html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (February 2009)
We've spent a lot time the last six weeks in planning mode, wrestling with how we at the Work Design Collaborative can cope with the harsh realities of the downturn and a highly uncertain future. After all, if we can't figure out what to do, how can we expect you to follow our advice? So we're reprinting the essence of our 2009 One-Page Business Plan.
Notes from the Field: Getting Real About Real Estate
html pdf
by Jim Young (February 2009)
For years, the financial markets thrived on the concepts that "greed is good", "the music will play forever", and "sophisticated investment techniques" were the way of the future. Yeah, right. Now it's time to take the challenges of 2008 and implement solutions that will lead to new business opportunities in 2009.
2009 is the Year of Hope html pdf
by Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware (January 2009)
We resolve to be hopeful in 2009. This is not a normal, anticipated swing in a "business cycle." Rather it's a "reset" of the basic rules of the road that will drive major restructuring of entire industries and – we believe – a closer alignment of personal, political, and economic interests.
Compass: Taking Charge of Tomorrow html pdf
by Jim Ware and Charlie Grantham (January 2009)
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." Never has that insight been truer than it is right now. The future isn't a given; it will be the result of millions of decisions made by millions of individuals and groups.
Notes from the Field: Rethinking Redundancy
html pdf
by Bay Jordan (January 2009)
Mass layoffs, or "redundancy" as it is often called in the United Kingdom, has been an option for owners and business managers since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and a common phenomenon during the last 30 years. A new economic downturn sees it once again becoming widespread. What if there were effective alternatives?
Calendar Year 2010 Issues
Calendar Year 2009 Issues
For copies of newsletters published in 2008 or earlier, please contact Jim Ware
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