Cities and Employers Need to Start Thinking Differently About the Future of Work

The Future of Work and the war for talent is beyond complicated. But it isn't simply about trusting employees to work responsibly. The issue is also about city infrastructure, small businesses depending on these office workers, and corporations shifting their recruitment strategies, training, cultural assimilation, and retention goals. CEOs from various places are diametrically opposed on the right path forward, as we are living in a moment of psychological and anthropological upheaval.

I'm a lifelong New Yorker. I grew up in Queens, lived in Brooklyn after college, and then on the Upper West Side before and after a stint in London. I've lived in Westchester for over 15 years. The city feels different without the human traffic racing to get to their offices; I'm in for meetings and the tourists are back, but it doesn't feel the same to me.

I think the issue is much deeper. Company management needs to address bigger issues than just back to work policies, and city planners and local government need to discuss how to create new opportunities for cities not based around shopping, dining, or work. Covid's impact, on NY and other major cities, needs the best thinkers of our time in order to shift the future.

How about a think tank made of the best and brightest from myriad sectors? Anthropologists, psychologists, academics, technologists, educators, cultural leaders, artists, financial wizards, doctors, and marketers all need to redefine what comes next. Someone needs to take charge and pull together a group of visionaries before it is too late.