Working from home became the norm during the pandemic, but it isn’t a new concept. Computers have pointed us in that direction for almost 50 years. When my mother insisted that I take the first computer programming elective offered at my high school during the 1960s, I thought she was nuts. I was focused on learning Russian and preparing for a catastrophic moment in the Cold War. But Mom informed me in her soft sweet voice that computers were the change shaping the future and she was commanding, not suggesting. And if that weren’t weird enough, she insisted that I take a typing class to ramp up my keyboard speed.
Mom was ahead of the curve, but not alone. In 1969, a scientist at the US patent office wrote about how computers would change life and work. Five years later, the term “telecommuting” made its debut when an oil crisis made the usual commuting habits expensive and exhausting. It took time for the computers I worked on to shrink from an entire building, to an entire floor and then to a nonprofit in an office building. In the 1980s, my small office installed a computer network and, can you believe it, made me the IT guy. Rebooting meant taking apart a hard drive and cleaning it with a number 2 pencil eraser. Muttering to my now deceased mother, I followed the directions by phone, a land line in those days, from a computer expert who actually knew what he was doing.
A personal computer became my lifeline in 1990 and instead of the 2 1/2 hour daily commute back and forth to the office in downtown Chicago, I worked from home. The popular term for that situation was “too sick to work”. I was devastated but soon, I launched some of the most creative projects of my career using that computer. No longer feeling sorry for me, former colleagues and connections felt sorry for themselves that they hadn’t seen it coming.
When I finally went back to “real jobs” I took my computer skills with me and upgraded their use in every office that I inhabited. When illness grabbed me again years later, and I was self-quarantined for months, creativity, innovation, and technology surfaced like an island rising from the sea. Technology gave me the ability to connect locally and globally. I could feel my mother smiling down at me.
I tell this story to give us all hope that the work-at-home culture during the pandemic should not be totally revoked. Yes, we need to get back to work: manufacturers, stores, supply chains, educators, restaurants and much more. But many will continue to work online solo and with teams, often shaping the future of global leadership. While the economies may continue to struggles with supply chain issues and inflation, new technologies using AI are emerging, changing cyberspace.
Chaos theory says that the most creative place in the universe is at the edge of chaos. And we are certainly faced with chaos with the upcoming election and the growing climate disasters. But the creatives come together in these times and can innovate us into a better future. So be prepared to go where no one has gone before. As expressed by Star Trek’s Spock, and my Mom, “Change is the essential process of all existence.” Engage!
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Might be worth sending my long manuscript “high tech fat low tech reality” for possible review by the esteemed editor in a future adr