Introducing The Flexible Path
A community for advocates for flexible work, empowering individuals and changing lives
« Why are you the right person to tell this story? »
It’s a question you are asked to consider when writing a book proposal.
I think it should also be a factor when you are designing community. Why am I the right person to host this particular community?
I pioneered work from home in my division of 300 account managers (customer setvice) more than 12 years ago. I experienced the childcare issues, eldercare problems, burnout, micro-agressions, visibility issues, proximity bias, overwork etc.
I’m in the process of figuring out if I launch a community for people to learn how to advocate for hybrid/remote like I did 10 years ago. I never really had other people to talk to as resources and I’m thinking such a community could be helpful.
Maybe you’ve heard Nick Bloom of Stanford predict that there is going to be a Nike swoosh for remote work? It’s hard right now but it’s going to pick up and accelerate into 2026.
Maybe you heard the LinkedIn editor-in-chief Dan Roth on daytime TV talk-shows encouraging people to insist on remote work in 2024 because it’s going to get sneaky and you’ll have to negotiate for it individually.
All of this feels really familiar to me - a throwback to 2013-2014. Management trends tend to cycle and I’m thinking this is a 10 year cycle.
So what resources did I need 10 years ago that didn’t exist?
What’s different?
What’s the same?
What does the future 10 year cycle look like?
What skills do we need to build?
You see, as much as my consulting focuses on working with the executive leadership teams to redesign work, my passion is making the work experience better for all employees (spoiler: even executives are employees). I once grew an employee voice initiative by 1000%. I founded an employee resource group for parents and caregivers when the pandemic started. I served as the communications experts for a global hackathon and innovation challenge designed to amplify employee contributions. Even 4 years later, I’m often the first person employees check in with when they leave my former employer. 20 years later, the woman who hired me agreed to appear on my podcast.
I’m the employee who cared.
Except now I’m a consultant and I use my knowledge and skills to help people who work at all different companies, in all different industries and locations.
Results and transformation
That’s why many people join community. They want to access information, share and engage with their insights and experience and learn something practical and applicable which results in transformation.
The people you meet along the way to that transformation are the bonus.
With the community I’m building (tentatively called The Flexible Path), I’m planning to build courses, offer ongoing discussion opportunities and personal 1:1 sessions that help you learn the skills and develop the courage and resilience needed to advocate for the flexibility you need to integrate your work and life.
The Flexible Path
I like the name The Flexible Path because distributed work looks different for everyone. Some people want to work from home, some want to travel, some want to be able to work from different locations to support caregiving - the permutations are limited only by imagination, personal circumstance and policy.
It’s a journey - likely you won’t get your optimal version of flexibility the first time you try to negotiate it. The community can help you build the skills and bolster your clarity, confidence and resilience.
Do you ever get tired of having to defend why you want flexibility?
Imagine a place where you don’t have to waste your energy justifying your vision of your possible future.
Imagine a place where you can develop the skills necessary to lead in the future of work (whether or not you are a people leader right now).
Imagine a place where you can ask all the questions you have about hybrid/remote/work from home without worrying that your boss and your coworkers will see.
Imagine a place where your lived experience is not only accepted and valued but celebrated.
Imagine a place where you can move beyond the frustrating fearmongering headlines and create real change for yourself and your family.
Imagine a place where you can assess resources, address agendas, mindsets and worldviews with critical thinking and empathy.
That’s The Flexible Path.
I’m in the process of building the landing page.
There will be annual, monthly and lifetime membership options. There will also be a limited number of scholarship options and a limited freemium option for those experiencing financial or life challenges. More to come on these options.
https://lnkd.in/gzUfqZui
The Motivation
Nick Bloom of Stanford recent shared this post:
A classic paper, by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and co-authors in Science, evaluates what activities people like and dislike. They find that:
1) The second most disliked activity is work (why people are paid to do it).
2) The *most disliked* activity of all is commuting, hated even more than working.
No wonder WFH is so popular - it saves the average person in Europe and North America 70 minutes of commuting a day (80 minutes in Asia). They spend about 40% of this saved time working more (great for firms), and the other 60% likely on more enjoyable activities higher up the table.
Full paper: https://lnkd.in/gnXNZRpx
Start as you mean to continue
I want to highlight the 10 scholarships and freemium plans available.
I am a member of one community and the host decided after a year that he wanted to add some people for free because they had been helpful to him personally. The community objected because the process seemed unfair. They never had an option to get anything for free even though some of them might have welcomed the break.
I know what it’s like to have useful knowledge and information but lack access because of finances.
I’m making 10 scholarships available as well as 10 freemium memberships for half price. These will be annual access.
The catch?
I’d like you to answer some questions before you will be approved.
You can only select these options once. If you get a scholarship the first year, you can’t move to the freemium option. If you select the freemium option, you won’t qualify for the scholarship.
After the year is up, you can move to the monthly, annual or lifetime memberships.
Prices are listed only in US dollars because it’s less confusing but if this poses a problem for you, contact me and I’ll work out a solution for you.
Fingers crossed, the launch date will be January 8, 2024.
https://lnkd.in/gzUfqZui
Beautiful idea and you are the right person for this work!