Imagine or a minute. If you were to redesign work today, with no legacy systems, no “we’ve always done it this way”, no hierarchy to tiptoe around, what would you create?
Really. Pause.
Grab a blank piece of paper, and think, “What would work look like if we started from scratch?”
Because here’s the truth – the future of work won’t be built by copying and pasting the past. It won’t be doing things the same way and expecting a different result. It will be built by people brave enough to ask better questions. People willing to let go of certainty, step into complexity, and imagine something more human, more connected, more purposeful.
But hold on….. If you’re only imagining futures that make you feel comfortable, you’re not thinking far enough. Or wide enough. Or deep enough. Or differently enough.
The teams we need tomorrow will be full of people not like us. Different worldviews, values, neurotypes, ages, genders, ethnicities, experiences. That’s not just nice to have, it’s critical. Innovation doesn’t happen in echo chambers.
And yet, this is incredibly hard to do when you’re in the middle of it. Working operationally. Being part of the creation of the way it is now.
I liken it to having designed and built a home. Once you’ve created it from scratch (or done a renovation) and decorated the house, it’s challenging (and sometimes downright annoying) when someone walks in and says, “You’d have more space and better flow if the kitchen and living room were around the other way.” You’ve already picked the paint colours, chosen the rug, hung the art. Of course it’s hard to see it differently.
That’s where the power of a fresh perspective comes in.
Sometimes you need an outsider, someone who isn’t emotionally invested, who doesn’t have recency bias, who can ask the hard questions and see what you might be missing. Not because you’re not good at what you do, but because you’re so good, you’ve been in the weeds building it.
And imagine the magic that happens when you get to be the participant instead of the facilitator.
When someone else holds the space.
When you have permission to think differently—not just for your team, but for yourself.
The future’s calling.
It’s asking us to be bolder, more curious, and a little more uncomfortable.
And maybe, just maybe… to pick up the pen and start again.