Not Listening: CEOs and Back-Into-The-Office

It's about enforced enculturation, not productivity.

Photo by Noel Nichols on Unsplash

I read a recent piece in Charter, which is a publication under the Time umbrella, The Post-Pandemic Office Revolution, by S. Mitra Kalita. I was struck by Kalita’s discussion with the president and CEO of real estate developer Jones Lang LaSalle: Christian Ulbrich. Kalita sets the context in this way:

to better undestand how commercial real estate is thinking about remote work, the blurry lines between home and office, and the future of where labor is done.

Bottom line first: as might be expected Ulbrich shows a strong cant toward back-into-the-office, including sidestepping all the research about people who don't want to return. He demonstrates an emphasis on corporate leaders — perhaps the leaders who manage real estate for large corporations — and their agenda. Normally I would simply file this and forget it, except as an example of not listening to the concerns of the rank and file. But I thought I would share this as part of a theme I am calling Not Listening.