Picture attribution Lana Dyck from Flickr
A while back, I learned a good mental framework on how to think about innovation.
Take a moment to think about the things that only extremely wealthy or powerful people have access to or get the opportunity to enjoy. Then, figure out how you would give every individual access to those things.
For example, today we are all information rich. However, it was just a few decades ago that only Presidents, Prime Ministers and powerful business leaders would have access to the type of information we have today at the tips of our fingers.
Go back even further in time and you will see that only Kings and Queens could align the resources to travel the world, or order whatever food they wanted.
Today, many more people can travel to their favorite destinations, and you can order any type of meal you want on your phone at 3 AM.
Not long ago, it was only the super wealthy and powerful that had chauffeurs to drive them around. Today, we have Uber and Lyft for a fraction of the cost.
You get my point.
I always go back to this simple yet powerful framework when a product or idea starts spreading super quickly.
One of these ideas is WFH or “Working From Home”.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 3.4 million employees in the U.S. primarily worked from home in 2017. And that number is only growing as video conferencing and other communications technology improves.
The White House is the ultimate example of “working from home”. Presidents have had incredible resources at their disposal to transition from “work-life” to “personal-life”. They have state of the art conference rooms, communications technology, and individuals to help them effectively rule the world. Other residents of the rich and powerful also provide their occupants with such capabilities.
They can be at peak productivity from the same place where they go to bed and spend time with their family.
That ability gives an individual enormous power, privilege, and leverage.
How can we give everybody access to this immensely valuable resource?
Imagine every worker in the United States or the world being able to transition from “work-life” to “home-life” at the push of a button.
I am starting to believe that the freedom to take your work with you wherever you go and luxury to be able to deliver on that work from anywhere is grossly undervalued. And more individuals and workplaces will be competing against this newfound vector of status and freedom.
I also believe we will see massive impacts of this on many other markets such as business travel, real estate, groceries, health & fitness, child care, and internet consumption, entertainment programming, restaurants, natural resources and more.
Curious to experience the secondary and tertiary impacts of the “Working From Home” revolution.