I’m going to get a little heady for a moment here. Ready? Here we go.
As a race, we are either headed for destruction or enlightenment. If we are doomed to the former, then nothing we do really matters. If, however, the latter is within our reach, then we have an imperative to each other and to future generations to take action to bring our world closer to that more enlightened existence.
What does this have to do with sharing workspace? A lot, actually. Think about the people who worked in the 20th century, when the idea of commuting to work 9-to-5 in a cubicle for a traditional employer reigned supreme in much of the Western world. Millions of lives were (and many continue to be) suppressed by a culture that says it’s okay to trade one’s calling for a steady paycheck doing unfulfilling work.
The wave of technological revolution we ride into the current century is sweeping through the belief systems we’ve established around so many aspects of our lives, and it is currently upending so much of what we know about work.
This gives us, people who are contemplating new ways to organize and gather people in workplaces, an opportunity that comes along perhaps once in a generation.
DOES THAT VISION END AT AN OPEN PLAN AND ATTRACTIVE FURNITURE?
Does the community go only as deep as the occasional happy hour? Or is there somewhere deeper you can go with all of this?
I witnessed what’s possible when people really start to take advantage of what’s possible when I first discovered coworking in 2007, encountering people, and organizers, who understood that laptop-liberated independent workers were ready to not just work alongside one another.
They were here to help each other, forming strong personal and professional bonds, and making the old ways of doing it look downright barbarian.
As people who are developing new ways of gathering people in workspace, we have a chance to give those we seek to serve an invitation to define their relationship with work in a better way than many of us could ever have dreamed of growing up.
They will be kept alive through the sheer will of those who believe in what those communities represent.
And you, my fellow organizer, will have achieved what you’ve set out to do.
But this path is not the obvious one. It’s not the one we tend to read about.
That’s why we’re here.
If you resonate with this thinking, then I want you to know you’re not alone, that you shouldn’t give up, and that what you’re doing is important.
And we’re here for you. Because we need you to make our dreams come true together.
The people of the world need a better relationship with its work and with each other. You can help to make that a reality.
Won’t you join us?
– Tony Bacigalupo