FROM OUR EXPERTS 🎙️

I keep a close eye on what our Future Work Experts are thinking, saying, and questioning. I break down the key conversations and brainstorm practical steps we can take to move forward.

​This week:

FLEXIBLE WORK

​Find the Rhythm, Sync the Team​

• In hybrid work, the real challenge isn’t just where we work—it’s when. Phil Kirschner highlights the power of a clear operating cadence: the organizational heartbeat that aligns decisions, meetings, and rituals across functions and time zones.
• Rooted in Six Sigma, military routines, and Agile sprints, these rhythms reduce coordination cost and cognitive overload—especially in hybrid setups where casual, in-office cues no longer exist. Without visible cadences, teams fall out of sync, duplicate efforts, or over-meet.
• Modern tools and AI-powered handbooks now let leaders share real-time rhythms across teams, just like GitLab and geniant do, enabling smarter cross-functional flow and better timing.

​Cadence provides structure; rhythm creates feeling. The most effective organizations master predictable cadence (productivity) and organic rhythm (engagement) together.

⚒️ Prompt: Audit your team’s recurring workflows—what key meetings or decisions happen daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly—and publish that rhythm where everyone can access and align to it.

AI IN REAL ESTATE

​It’s Time to Be the Strategic Integrator​

​Antony Slumbers urges professionals to shift from narrow expertise to becoming strategic integrators—positioned at the intersection of AI, human experience, and real estate. In an era where AI automates specializations, your edge lies in what you combine it with: adjacent skills, cross-functional fluency, and forward-thinking positioning.

He outlines three interlocking strategies to become future-proof:

• Intersectional Positioning: Place yourself where emerging disciplines converge (e.g. PropTech + design, ESG + AI).
• Adjacent Skill Stacking: Build a "T-shaped" profile by adding capabilities like data storytelling, digital product thinking, and change leadership.
• Strategic Career Moves: Align with firms and functions leading AI-native, tech-enabled transformation—avoid "legacy logic" roles.

This is your future-proofing flywheel: positioning + skills + environment reinforcing each other. Those who ride this shift early become the connective tissue of the new era, much like engineers in the Industrial Revolution.

⚒️ Prompt: Quick Self Check (1–5)​

• Am I working where AI, real estate, and human experience meet?
• Have I built at least 2 adjacent skills?
• Is my role aligned with future trends (AI, ESG, tech)?

WORKPLACE EFFICIENCY

​Ditch the Agenda—Call a Rad Box​

• Still waiting for your next weekly meeting to make key decisions? That’s often the problem. Chris Dyer introduces the Rad Box—a radically effective, time-boxed meeting format (15–20 minutes, one topic, one decision) designed to replace bloated recurring syncs with fast, focused action. Instead of being bound by calendar routines, teams use Rad Boxes when clarity is needed now—building a culture of trust, speed, and decisiveness without sacrificing alignment. The best time to make the right decision isn’t Thursday—it’s when the question shows up.

⚒️ Prompt: Next time a decision gets parked, ask: Can we Rad Box this now? Then grab 15 minutes, one goal, one resolution—done.

AI IN HR

​Why Benefits Need Better Intelligence​

• ​Anthony Onesto compares employee benefits to utilities—rarely noticed until something goes wrong. But with AI-powered benefits administration, HR can shift this function from background noise to strategic differentiator. AI enables personalized benefit recommendations, 24/7 chatbot support, and data-driven plan design—cutting admin costs by 30% and routine task time by 40%.
• With 84% of employees choosing suboptimal plans, AI fills the decision-support gap, guiding smarter choices and improving benefit utilization. By centralizing data, automating repetitive tasks, and layering AI governance, HR leaders can deliver scalable impact without sacrificing human judgment.

⚒️ Prompt: Start small! Pilot an AI chatbot during open enrollment. Then, build your AI playbook from real-time usage, feedback, and performance data.

🔥 QUICK HITS:

• ​Stop Building HR Waste // By Luke O’Mahoney​
  • HR often over-engineers shiny programs no one uses—not from bad intent, but from skipping one key question: “Does this create value for the end user?” Luke draws from Lean thinking to spotlight 8 types of HR waste: Overproduction (building full policies no one asked for), Waiting (employees stuck in approval delays), Transport (manually moving data across systems), Overprocessing (needless workflows for simple tasks), Inventory (content that sits untouched), Motion (context-switching and chasing info), Defects (confusing rollouts that require rework), and Unused Talent (people teams buried in admin instead of solving strategic problems). It’s time to treat People Experience like a product.
  • ⚒️ Prompt: Run a Lean PX Audit this week. Ask: What’s creating real value? What’s just legacy noise? Then cut ruthlessly and rebuild with user needs at the center.
• ​From CPU Cities to GPU Cities // By Dror Poleg​
  • The world we built was designed for a linear, industrial age—fixed jobs, fixed buildings, predictable outcomes. But AI, like the GPU chips it runs on, thrives on parallel processing and constant adaptation. Dror Poleg calls for General Purpose Urbanism: cities (and companies) that act like GPUs—flexible, decentralized, and built for experimentation. Think Tokyo, not Manhattan. Think coworking, not cubicles. The future belongs to places that support multiple futures—not rigid plans.
  • ⚒️ Prompt: Audit your workspace, city, or company design. Is it built for certainty—or for adaptability? What’s one system or space you can make more flexible this quarter?
• ​The New Shape of Work // By Jess Von Bank​
  • Your org chart is evolving. Today’s workforce pyramid—manual base, steady middle, elite top—is flattening fast. AI is collapsing low-skill tasks, reshaping the middle with augmentation, and expanding the top tier into an “AI class” of thinkers, translators, and system builders.
  • At Mercer, they frame it simply: 👐 hands get automated, 🧠 heads get augmented, ❤️ hearts get elevated. It’s not just job disruption—it’s a new way value is created and measured.
  • ⚒️ Prompt: Map your current roles against this shift. Who’s doing manual, augmentable, or strategic work? Then ask: how are we enabling the AI class to grow?
• ​Return to Office Won’t Fix Culture // By Brian Elliott​
  • Culture isn’t built by badge scans—it’s shaped by how teams work, not where. In MIT Sloan, Brian Elliott outlines six levers that actually shift culture: dependability-based trust, a "first team" mindset, personal user manuals, rewarding outcomes (not optics), team-level working agreements, and purposeful in-person time. RTO without these is just noise.
  • ⚒️ Prompt: Ask your team: “What builds trust and clarity here?” Then co-create a team agreement that outlines how you work—not just where.

FUTURE WORK ROUNDUP 📰

I track what’s worth your attention—bringing you the news and updates that matter most to how we work, lead, and grow.

This week:

DELEGATION

​When You Can’t Delegate More​

When your plate is full and your team’s is too, simply delegating more isn’t an option. This HBR piece offers a practical path forward: start by defining what “good enough” looks like so every task doesn’t default to A+ effort.

Then, identify and eliminate low-value tasks—especially habitual ones hiding in plain sight.

Finally, reduce your availability strategically to empower team members and give yourself space to think and lead. These mindset shifts help you reclaim time and energy without sacrificing performance or burning out your team.

⚒️ Prompt: Reframe your approach to overloaded work: this week, try scaling back involvement in one project, shortening one meeting, and asking your team where “B-level” work would be enough to move faster.

​

AI IN WORKPLACE

​Prove You Don’t Need AI First​

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke has told employees they must prove tasks can’t be done by AI before requesting more staff or resources, signaling a shift in operational norms.

He emphasized a “fundamental expectation” that AI be integrated into daily work and noted that AI usage will factor into performance reviews. Lutke’s stance is clear: autonomous agents should be your “first teammate,” not a future consideration.

⚒️ Prompt: This case study twists the mindset of headcount growth as a default solution—challenging us to ask: What if AI is the first teammate we consider?

TALENT STRATEGY

​Skills Mapping Closes the Talent Gap​

Mercer’s global survey shows that skills mapping is the key differentiator for companies successfully attracting in-demand talent.

Organizations with strong skills infrastructures—like libraries, mapping tools, and reward systems—are nearly 2x more effective at closing skills gaps.

With 45% of HR leaders now rewarding skill acquisition and leadership buy-in no longer a major barrier, the case for skills-first strategies is clear. It’s not just about hiring for skills—it’s about mapping and growing them internally.

⚒️ Prompt: Map your team’s current skills to job roles this quarter using a shared spreadsheet or skills library—then identify top gaps to target for upskilling or mobility. You can take a reference HERE.

MACROECONOMICS

​The U.S. and China: Economic War Begins​

The U.S.–China economic decoupling has accelerated, with tariffs reaching 145% on Chinese imports and 125% on U.S. goods to China. Businesses on both sides are already feeling the shock—U.S. factories are canceling orders, Chinese manufacturers halting production, and supply chains grinding to a halt.

Until both countries sit down to negotiate, the pain extends globally, with consumers facing rising prices, small businesses slashing costs, and economists forecasting recession risks and inflation rebounds.

As both nations dig in, the ripple effects threaten jobs, growth, and stability across markets.

⚒️ Prompt: Proactively lead the conversation “As the U.S.–China trade tensions escalate, we're all navigating some uncertainty—how do you see this affecting our work or industry, and what concerns or ideas do you have about how we should respond together?”

🔥 QUICK HITS:

• (LAYOFFS) Microsoft Eyes Cuts to Managers​
  ​Microsoft may announce more layoffs targeting middle managers and non-coders as it aims to boost efficiency with a 10:1 engineer-to-PM “builder ratio.” This shift mirrors a broader tech trend favoring hands-on builders over coordinators, as companies streamline leadership layers.
• ​(DEI) Still Matters to Employees​
  ​Despite political pushback and budget cuts, 84% of employees still want their companies to expand DEI initiatives. Workers are demanding visible, concrete actions—like pay equity audits and inclusive hiring—over vague commitments to ensure fairness and innovation.
• (HR TENSION) People-First Is Under Pressure​
  ​A new Leapsome report reveals that 92% of HR leaders are facing internal resistance to core people-first practices like flexibility, DEI, and well-being. As AI and politics reshape the workplace, HR is increasingly caught between enforcing executive mandates and maintaining employee trust.