The debate over where and when people should work has dominated headlines since 2020. But those surface-level questions—office vs. remote, how many days in-person—miss the deeper issue:
What work are people actually doing, and what do they need to do it well?
That’s the heart of our new book, WORK then PLACE: Navigating Modern Work & Where It Happens. Too often, leaders start solving workplace problems with place—designing offices, setting hybrid schedules, and in-office mandates—without first understanding work: the behaviors, processes, and technologies that make it possible.
Our call to action? Start with the work. Then design the spaces, technologies, and cultures that make it thrive.
WORK then PLACE is a framework for making change second nature within organizations rather than an existential threat. It’s a field guide for navigating the complexity of modern work that doubles down on data-informed, ongoing dialogue between employees, leaders, and organizational systems that enable agility and adaptability.
For two decades, we’ve been helping organizations rethink the workplace through economic shocks, digital transformation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the post-pandemic realities of today. We've worked with startups and global enterprises, landlords and flex providers, in-house and as consultants. In short, we’ve been [nearly] everywhere, man.
The same pattern kept repeating: when leaders skipped the work part of workplace transformation and jumped to place decisions, they missed the bigger opportunity. But when they started with work, the place transformation aligned with how people worked best—rather than cementing outdated practices.
We wrote WORK then PLACE to capture the lessons we’ve learned—and to offer a practical alternative to the broken ways transformation is handled too often. It’s the resource we wish we’d had on our desks years ago, and could have shared with our colleagues. We aim to give leaders, teams, change agents, and thinkers the clear, practical path forward that we know our younger selves and former teammates would have loved.
WORK then PLACE is for anyone shaping the future of work:
Executives responsible for aligning talent, technology, and transformation.
Workplace and Real Estate leaders recalibrating their role in a digital-first world.
HR, IT, and operations teams striving to connect strategy with lived experience.
Employees curious about their role in modern work and how they can help build a future that better supports them and their teammates.
Consultants, change agents, and internal teams asking better questions about how to move forward.
WORK then PLACE is not a manifesto or a prediction. It’s a practical, evidence-based guide rooted in the realities of complex organizations—and a reminder that meaningful change (1) doesn’t have to be big to be valuable, and (2) is always possible, even in environments that feel stuck.
WORK then PLACE arrives in bookstores this fall!
Over the coming weeks, we’ll share excerpts, behind-the-scenes insights, details on how to get your copy, and more. We’ll also continue the conversation about where modern work is headed and what you can expect from us post-launch.
Whether you’re new to our work or have been following us for a while, we’re glad you’re here. The way we work is changing—whether we’re ready or not—and it’s up to us to shape those changes for the better.
Together, we can make work suck less.
Until soon,
Corinne & Sara
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