Chet Kapoor, Chairman and CEO of Datastax, is all in on GenAI, aka Generative Artificial Intelligence. When ChatGPT burst into public consciousness in November 2022, Chet pivoted his team and the company to seize a leadership position in the fifth major technology wave of his 30+ year technology career.

Data at scale, vectorizing databases, and an open-source ethos are just a few ingredients necessary to enable developers to build and deliver the next revolution of GenAI native, and GenAI infused applications. This opportunity goes beyond merely saving money and increasing efficiency by a few points; to fundamentally reinventing processes, business models, and daily life assisted by human-like agents specifically designed around the context of our individual preferences, productivity, and priorities.

Please join me in welcoming Chet Kapoor to the Work 20XX podcast.

From RAG to LLMs, SLMs to hallucinations, and the exponential curves that will provide each of us with our own personal agents running locally, tuned to various processes, GenAI apps promise to change everything. From managing personal email to the marketing department, to our personal social calendars, these technologies will be based on the context and relevance of what matters most to each of us. The implications are broad and Chet and I discussed a number of important topics, from regulation and governance, developer tools, to the ramifications of 24/7 speech access to a supercomputer running apps tailored to our preferences. Exciting, scary, brave new world? Yes, yes, and yes.

What can we learn from the four most recent technology epochs (client-server, web, mobile, cloud), and what makes this GenAI chapter so unique?

Join me in this conversation with someone who has lived through prior transformations and has strong opinions on how this next chapter will unfold. Chet’s eyes still sparkle, the data-centric, open-source excitement burns as brightly as when he first picked up *The Little Kingdom: The Private Story of Apple Computer* by Michael Moritz in 1984, knowing then that he had to be part of this technology-powered transformation.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcvLOREN5IE&list=PLZURvMqWbYjmmJlwGj0L0jWbWdCej1Jlt&ab_channel=TurntheLenswithJeffFrick

Transcript and Show Notes - Click Here

https://www.work20xx.com/episode/chet-kapoor-genai-my-agent-human-like-reinvention-work-20xx-ep32

Julie Whelan and the CBRE research team delivered the updated 2024 edition of the US Office Occupier Sentiment Survey. This marks the third consecutive year we’ve had Julie on to share the findings and some of the insights behind the numbers.

For the first time since Covid, according to Julie, the survey feels somewhat ‘normal,’ reflecting a significant shift in sentiment regarding organizations ‘shedding’ space. While the past few years focused on downsizing and adapting to hybrid work models, companies are now reaching a "steady state" where office space utilization is stabilizing, and some organizations are even considering expanding their space.

Please join me in welcoming Julie Whelan back to Work 20XX.

We covered a range of topics, including the difference between measuring efficiency vs. effectiveness. We reviewed the latest on technology investments, from video conferencing and space scheduling to occupancy sensors and more. We also explored some innovative ways companies are using flexible and shared spaces to accommodate peak days when most employees are in the office, while still maintaining ‘vibrancy’ on days with fewer people present.

With New York’s Local Law 97 coming into play, we discussed the role of sustainability, net-zero goals, office conversions, and the capital markets adjustments that will reset a number of properties that no longer meet today’s standards.

These topics and more make for another highly engaging conversation with Julie, who has her finger on the pulse of the office market from a national perspective.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2khvxe9CcQY&list=PLZURvMqWbYjmmJlwGj0L0jWbWdCej1Jlt&ab_channel=TurntheLenswithJeffFrick

Transcript and Show Notes - Click Here
https://www.work20xx.com/episode/julie-whelan-v3-sentiment-shift-location-vibrancy-work-20xx-ep31

Evan Benway, a musician and the child of musicians, has been immersed in the creation and study of music since his earliest days. Through his deep appreciation for the evocative power and joy of sound, Evan understands how profoundly music can affect mood and emotions. However, in his professional journey, he discovered a stark contrast: sound is often considered a major distraction in traditional knowledge worker environments, especially in open floor plans filled with sound-reflecting materials like concrete and glass. Even in the most cutting-edge offices, unmanaged noise—particularly from people talking—can overwhelm other positive design elements. Evan experienced this firsthand and was struck by how unproductive such environments could be due to a poorly managed soundscape.

Traditional methods of sound management—absorbing, blocking, and covering, known as the ABCs of acoustics—are increasingly inadequate in modern office designs where sound sensitivity is high, and conventional solutions like carpets and acoustic tiles are less practical.

There had to be a better way.

Join me in welcoming Evan Benway to Work 20XX.

Evan founded Moodsonic to transform sound from a negative element into a positive force that enhances productivity, mood, and well-being. Moodsonic uses science-backed, biophilic sounds to create contextually relevant, dynamically generated soundscapes (with no loops) for built environments. Starting with offices and expanding into healthcare and educational markets, Moodsonic's approach brings the power of nature-inspired sound into these spaces.

Evan and his team are pioneering the use of dynamic soundscapes to improve people's experiences in built environments, leveraging the deep-seated biological impact of sound on attention, health, productivity, and well-being. At the same time, they carefully design these soundscapes to avoid the many pitfalls that poorly designed audio environments can bring.

In this episode of Work 20XX, we dive into the details, science, methods, and results of creating intentional soundscape designs that work in harmony with visual and other design elements to create better workplace experiences.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OqytQDMf80&list=PLZURvMqWbYjmmJlwGj0L0jWbWdCej1Jlt&index=1

Eposide page with transcript and show notes - Click Here
https://www.work20xx.com/episode/evan-benway-dynamic-sound-positive-well-being-work-20xx-ep30

Tony Jamous started Oyster in January 2020 to use the power of software to address the disequilibrium between the tens of millions of un-filled knowledge worker jobs in the West, with the Billion plus new knowledge workers coming on line in the next 10 years in the developing world.

Connecting the supply to demand, without making people leave their home countries. Making hiring global as easy as hiring local. Bringing amazing job opportunities to people around the world, while making it easy for employers and employees, regardless of their location in the world. A Professional Employment Organization (PEO) on a planetary scale, delivering hundreds of millions of dollars of direct investment to in the form of wages and taxes, to workers in over 180 countries around the world.

Please join me in welcoming Tony Jamous to Work 20XX

After a series of successful startups, including going public and acquisition, Tony found himself financially successful, but felt there was still something missing. Tony took a year to heal himself, to get better, to get healthier. He wanted to create a new organization, hyper diverse, and hyper distributed, using the latest technology to enable people to hire talent from anywhere in the world, and that talent to perform their jobs without having to leave their home communities and move..

Tony describes his leadership style as ‘Sustainable Leadership,’ a human-centric approach, taking care of self first, and your people, which results in a stronger organization, increased engagement, and 100% remote organization of about 600 people living in 70 countries.

In this episode, we dive into the opportunity, the logistics, and the management philosophy Tony is using to create a very unique culture to address one of the largest market miss matches of the next several decades. I am absolutely thrilled to share Tony’s story with you.

YouTube - Click Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8eUlGJVCd4&list=PLZURvMqWbYjmmJlwGj0L0jWbWdCej1Jlt

Episode page with transcript and show notes - Click Here
https://www.work20xx.com/episode/tony-jamous-global-talent-sustainable-unreactive-work-20xx-ep29

Brian Elliott mined one of the primary information veins on attitudes about work, workplace, the impact of agency, trust, and outcomes-focused management, effectively moving work forward at the team level, in concert with organizational and individual objectives. The Future Forum Pulse survey, 10,000 people, surveyed quarterly. With the full backing, partnership, and research support of Slack, Salesforce, BCG, MillerKnoll and MLT, each with their own research operations.

Brian is independent now, sharing his insight far and wide. He last visited Work 20XX June 2023, and delivered the ‘Distributed Working 101’ best practices on distributed work, every hot button question, challenge, benefit, and opportunity I could think of. Time for an update and uplevel of the topics as priorities change in a year.

Please join me in welcoming back, Brian Elliott to Work 20XX

If you generalize distributed work adoption as a form of technology adoption practices (tools and rules), you can use the same process and philosophy to increase AI and adoption in your organization, it’s another form of technology adoption practices. If you don’t, others are. It’s good business practices, broadly applicable. And as many organizations are unsure how to navigate AI adoption, good news, distributed work provides the road map.

That’s what we cover in this episode, which might have been titled ‘Distributed Working 201’.

Oh yes, did I mention it’s RTO season? In headlines only.

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Sacha Connor took a risk. Working on the west coast, for a company she enjoyed in a job she loved, she put it on the line in the interest of wanting her soon to be first born child to grow up around her extended family in Philadelphia. So in 2010, she asked, can I keep my position, but move 3,000 miles and 3 time zones away, and go fully remote? They replied, yes, ‘but’ with significant career altering caveats. Sacha bet on herself, and took the offer.

Sacha made the move, and not only ran large distributed teams for the next 8 years, for Clorox, from Philadelphia, she overcame all the hurdles, and caveats, getting Clorox to de-couple location from potential and career track. Sacha started Virtual Work Insider in 2018 to help other organizations more effectively work as distributed teams and organizations, and she and team continue that work today, with a who’s who of progressive companies looking to embrace change, and learn the skills, mindsets, and behaviors to thrive in a more distributed world.

Please join me in welcoming Sacha Conner to this episode of Work 20XX

I was thrilled with Sacha accepted my invitation, as she started her distributed team member journey from zero, and has learned quite a bit over her time at Clorox, and with her current clients, on what works, what doesn’t work, and the practical steps to take to do distributed work better. From being Omni-modal, able to comfortably switch modes, to mapping out your network, and humanizing the members of the team, she’s chock full of tips and tricks to better navigate, and manage our increasingly distributed and dynamic world and workplace.

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Transcript and Show Notes - Click Here

Chase Warrington established travel and international experiences as his guiding priorities early in his career, recognizing the necessity of making significant trade-offs to achieve these goals. After a brief period in the corporate sector, Chase joined Doist, a fully remote company with 100 employees spread across more than 30 countries. As the Head of Operations, he has taken a holistic approach to remote work best practices and has become a prominent figure in the remote work movement, which gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Chase and his family embarked on their international living adventure and are currently residing in Valencia, Spain.

In 2021, Chase launched the "About Abroad" podcast to offer advice and insights to those interested in living abroad. The podcast covers a wide range of topics from the mundane, such as visas and taxes, to more specific themes like Van Life and obtaining dual citizenship in various countries. Chase is an active presence in the community, frequently speaking at conferences and appearing as both a host and guest on numerous podcast episodes.

Please join me in welcoming Chase Warrington to this episode of Work 20XX.

I am thrilled that Chase accepted my invitation. His mission is to streamline the path to living and working abroad, making it smoother and less complicated than when he began his international journey over a decade ago.

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Transcript and Show Notes - Click Here

Jack (John) M Nilles coined the term ‘Telecommuting’ when describing the trade-offs between using the phone and commuting. After the first 20 years of his career coordinating interdisciplinary technology teams in the development of top-secret optical systems for satellites and NASA, and spurred by a Santa Barbara urban planner's challenge, ‘If you can put a man on the moon, why don’t you do something about traffic?’

As the University of Southern California's first director for Interdisciplinary Research, he assembled various disciplines to study and validate Jack’s hypothesis that technology enabled tasks to be done in new ways, starting with trading telecommunications for commuting.

The development of the Policy on the Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff, 1974 Final Report (and book in 1976), was based on work with an insurance company, who wanted to reduce their ridiculously high turnover. This research is the basis for over 50 years of work invested in advancing distributed work in a world where ‘technology was never the issue; there were always more people who could do it than managers who would allow them to.’

Please join me in welcoming Jack Nilles to Work 20XX.

I was thrilled beyond belief when Jack accepted my invitation. Ninety-one years young, still actively blogging and posting on the topic, what a treat to hear the story of how all this got started.

Jack Nilles: Telecommuting, Tradeoffs, Resistance, Incentives | Work 20XX podcast with Jeff Frick, Ep25

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