The World Is Your Office
Harvard Professor Raj Choudhury on the podcast
What if we’ve been asking the wrong questions about the future of work?
This is a question I often think about amongst the shouting headlines of how many days various camps think employees should spend in the office.
Most of the arguments are missing the point.
This week on The Floorplan, I had the privilege of speaking with Professor Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury from the Harvard Business School, one of the world’s leading researchers on the impcat of geographic flexibility, most commonly termed ‘work from anywhere’. His research has influenced how organisations around the world think about flexibility, talent, and innovation. Raj has just released his new book The World is Your Office, which offers both compelling data and practical insight into how distributed work can unlock not only productivity, but human potential. I have had the opportunity to read it ahead of release, and let’s just say it is a must read.
We dove into some of the big questions shaping the conversation around workplaces:
Why do dominant media narratives keep circling back to office mandates, despite the evidence?
How can leaders move from outdated management mindsets to systems that genuinely support autonomy and trust? We tackle why the productivity metric is all wrong and how this is changing.
What can the rise of “work-from-anywhere” teach us about access to opportunity, inclusion, and global talent?
One of the things I appreciated most about Raj’s perspective is how nuanced it is. This isn’t about being pro-office or anti-office. It’s about recognizing that the future of work isn’t binary, it’s dynamic. Context, culture, task, and trust all matter.
Raj’s research shows that when individuals are trusted to choose where they do their best work, organisations benefit from higher retention, increased productivity, and broader access to global talent. But he also cautions that hybrid models aren’t automatically a magic solution, they require intentional design and leadership clarity.
We also talked about some of the deeper issues at play:
~ The tension between visibility and value.
~ The role of cities and geography in a world where work is decoupled from place.
~ And how performance should be measured in the age of autonomy.
Whether you're a leader navigating the return to office, a policy-maker rethinking economic geography, or simply someone trying to make sense of your own ideal work rhythm, this episode offers clarity in a very noisy debate.
Also on this episode, will policy makers be once bitten, twice shy when it comes to politicising flexible working arrangements from now on? Matt and I discuss the federal opposition's rapidly ditched attempt to force public servants back to the office.
We also discuss the growing trend of polyworking among younger employees - what is it and why is it a thing? And what would you do with a compulsory 'recharge day'?
I leave next week for Japan leading our MBA study tour. I have a long list of new spots to visit - cafes, stationery, emerging workspaces, design and architecture to visit and can’t wait to share them with you. We will also have site visits and talks at Ajinomoto, Fast Retailing (Uniqlo), Panasonic, Yamaha, Microsoft, Ebay, JLL, Google, and many more.
🎧 Listen now to our full conversation on The Floorplan — available on Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
📘 The World Is Your Office is out on April 22nd. It’s a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of work — and the human beings who do it.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts. How is your organisation approaching flexibility? Are you thriving in a remote model, or grappling with new challenges?
Libby x