Distance Working Is Feminine
What if everything we’ve known about Distance Working was not true? What if everything we’ve known about it didn’t have much to do with telework / teleworking in the first place? Still think remote / distributed / hybrid work started off in early 2020 when it became mainstream? What if Distance Working is feminine? Are you ready for that shock to hit your head just like it pretty much did with my own? Can I take you all on a trip down the memory lane back to 1962? A whopping 64 years ago?!?! Let’s go then!
I’ve been working distributedly myself for over 25 years. All along, I thought I was one of the pioneers, leading by example, walking the talk, who kept advocating and fully supporting remote work as an operating model within organisations, because, back then, I thought it was a new thing. It wasn’t. In that same year of 2001, when I started working remotely myself, I had colleagues at IBM who were telling me they got started with it in the early 1980s. Gosh, it definitely wasn’t 2020 either when the business world discovered the wonders of distance working to save lives, was it? Ever heard of Jack Nilles?
Let’s go back to 1973. I was one year old. Ouchie! Yet, Jack Nilles was already trying to figure out an effective way to disrupt the business world forever by challenging the current norms and status quo of pilgrimming to the office, day in day out, in order to mitigate the impact of the oil crisis. Eventually, he coined the term Telework / Teleworking, while working on a project at LA County, to avoid the dreaded commute. Does that ring a bell? Knock, knock, hello, my dear 2026, how are you doing?
See? I was never a pioneer when thinking I was one of the early knowledge (Web) workers working away from the traditional office. There were colleagues way ahead of me by a couple of decades. There was Jack Nilles already pioneering, or so I thought!, the way with teleworking 30 years before I got started. Why am I still saying then Distance Working is feminine?
Let’s go now back to 1962. A mind-blowing 64 years ago! Shall we? Allow me then to introduce you all to Steve Shirley, better known as Dame Vera Stephanie Shirley. Did you know about her before reading this post? No? That’s fine. No worries. I’ll explain further in a minute. If you did know about her, what a lucky person you are! I wish I’d’ve heard about her and her pioneering work around distance working a few years back!
She started her own business in computing, Freelance Programmers, at age 29 with 6£ from her kitchen counter while caring for her child and her family. She got to eventually set up her own software company hiring, over the course of time, incredibly smart and talented women, (297 out of 300 employees!) most of them also working from home writing code, while they were also looking after their own families. Let that sink in, please, once more, this is 1962! And we still think we’ve invented everything?!?! Ha! Not a chance. Ever.
If you’d want to learn more about Steve Shirley’s fascinating and incredibly inspiring tough story, I’d love to encourage you all to listen to this absolutely delightful podcasting recording, Cautionary Tales, with Tim Harford. “The Refugee Who Led a Software Revolution”. It’s just close to 28 minutes, but totally worth your time. Here’s a brilliant quote from that recording to entice you all to have a listen:
“I learned that progress generally comes from making a series of small steps rather than a giant leap.”
As I get to wrap up this blog post, you may be wondering, what’s my point then when stating out loud, clearly, that Distance Working is feminine? Allow me to share another quote to try to answer that question, and you’ll see what I mean:
“[…] ordering people back to the office full time is a power and status move. It’s a signature strategy of leaders who exhibit narcissistic qualities. They see any kind of remote work as a threat to their authority and admiration. They want to be worshiped at the office altar“
Mind-blowing, eh? Well, that’s the thing. At a time when we should be seriously considering embracing, and adapting accordingly!, to Distance Working as an operating model for multiple business, societal and environmental reasons, white, middle-aged narcissitstic men in suited-up executive positions within their organisations keep enforcing upon us all the need to return to the office with their stupid and non-sensical Return To Office mandates. We know better now, right?
“[…] our data does show that overall, self-centered leaders tend to struggle with the idea of employees making independent choices about where to work. Psychologists have long suggested that narcissism is like a drug — it leaves people craving a regular supply of attention and validation. Remote work deprives leaders of access to that supply”.
Those quotes I’ve just shared above are from a recent article by Adam Grant, Marissa Shandell and Courtney Elliott reflecting on a new study they have conducted that’s worth while diving into: “Worship me at the office altar: Why narcissistic leaders resist remote work”. It pretty much confirms why, in today’s day and age, we just can’t afford not to embrace the obvious: we no longer need a physical office to do the best of our knowledge work!
But not only that, it gets so much better, working from anywhere, whether it’s remote or distributed, has got to do with being more empathetic and caring for others (i.e. your offspring, older parents, people with disabilities, etc.). Something, we know now, are not leadership traits, nor characteristics, from narcissistic sociopaths / psychopaths in (senior) executive positions when they tell us we need to return to the office, because, you know, it’s the culture.
Well, excuse my French, folks, but f*ck the culture! Back in 1962, Steve Shirley demonstrated, and showed us first hand!, it’s possible to care for others, be more empathic, while doing your best knowledge work and for that we don’t need to have a physical office. We can continue to do all of that from our most sacred of spaces: our home, our true culture.
That’s why, going forward, I plan to continue blogging about why we need to resist the push for RTO mandates coming from malignant narcissists and show the world there’s a more effective manner to do your best work while still having your priorities straight looking after, and caring dearly, for those you love the most versus continuing to whorship the sociopaths / psychopaths at their office altar.
Not any more. Distance Working is feminine. Remember that! Remember the powerful and inspiring story of Dame Vera Stephanie Shirley.
Live for it, work for it!
