As I peruse my collection of books dedicated to the future of work and the visualization of its accommodating work environment, I have noticed that many of these publications were NOT written yesterday!

In 1968, Robert Propst declared, “The office, as we have come to know it, is an adolescent statement starved for appropriate definition and somewhat oblivious to the forces of change” and, “The real consumer is the mind .  The subject starts there.  More than anything else, we are dealing with a mind-oriented living space”. 

The early emphasis of this pholosophy goes back to Peter F. Drucker who, ten years previously (1958), stated that “The primary resource in the post-capitalist society will be knowledge and the leading social groups will be ‘knowledge workers'”.  In 1996, Michael Hammer declared, “These new (work) processes often call for empowered frontline individuals who should be provided with information and expected to make their own decisions” …further stating that business leaders should “adapt their companies’ to the new ways of working”.

Over a decade ago, the authors Drucker, Propst, Hammer, Thomas Davenport, Tom Peters, Steven Rayner and Michael Brill wrote some very pertinent work regarding the transformation of the workplace.  With the exception of some incomprehensible advances in technology, the overall message in their publications are still quite relevant today!

Reference these authors and others on my “Resource” page.   Their timely messages are just as significant today and well worth the read.