More stories from Jessica Stillman

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Technology these days means you can source talent from just about anywhere, so why is global tech firm Liaison Technologies looking to rural Illinois rather than overseas, and how has this rural sourcing impacted their business? COO Larry Mieldezis explains in an interview. Read more »

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Often we only learn to value something when we feel its absence, so perhaps it makes sense that perpetually roaming travel writer Pico Iyer is a powerful advocate for stillness. In a recent interview he discusses the value of quiet for the perpetually plugged-in. Read more »

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A long-time, female freelancer argues that, though the reason may be nurture rather than nature, women are often better equipped with the skills demanded of independent workers, including empathy, creativity and the ability to accept an uncertain, lower-status work style. Read more »

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The argument that work is increasingly untethered from the office and will take place more and more in coffee shop–type environments is pretty common, but one futurist is taking “coffeeshopification” a step further, claiming that universities and retail stores will resemble coffee shops as well. Read more »

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Fans of enterprise social networking tools tout their ability to break down silos and pierce the executive bubble. But as hot a topic as these tools are, not everyone is a fan. Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst thinks they’re “garbage,” claiming you can’t buy collaboration. Read more »

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Gloomy February is generally in need of more celebrations, and it has gotten one: Anywhere Working Week is on now. But this initiative from UK business, government and nonprofits to promote remote work is hardly getting pulses racing. Flexible work deserves a higher profile. Read more »

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A survey conducted by British online labor platform Freelancer.co.uk confirms earlier findings from competitor site PeoplePerHour that showed UK businesses are hiring more independent workers, indicating that the much discussed rise of the “gig economy” is a transatlantic phenomenon. Read more »

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Thanks to $340 million in no or low-cost loans authorized by the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), the Freelancers Union is expanding its health insurance offerings for independent workers, offering a new low-cost option to those in New York, New Jersey and Oregon. Read more »

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Forget Mad Men-era images of CEOs spending hours around conference tables. A research project reveals that while executives still spend a ton of time in meetings, modern CEOs increasingly use virtual tools to connect. What might this mean for corporate culture further down the ladder? Read more »

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Constant connectedness means an increased risk of communication addiction, with knowledge workers checking their devices at all hours and burning themselves out in the process. But whose problem is this? Should companies, individuals or even countries be responsible for setting boundaries? Wharton School experts debate. Read more »

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An expert on flexible work examines the data and concludes that despite much chatter about the rise of flexible working, in reality these policies only benefit a narrow, highly educated subset of the workforce. Can the practice be expanded to help those most in need? Read more »

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Nearly everyone hates meetings, but a bold blogger suggests the solution may not be fewer of them, but more. Wayne Turmel argues that virtual teams stick too closely to the old model of long get togethers and advocates for more, shorter remote meetings. Read more »

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Enterprise social networking may be a hot buzzword but it’s still in its infancy when it comes to adoption, which adds up to a frenzy of rushed roll outs by the inexperienced. What usually goes wrong? David Lavenda of harmon.ie has a few ideas. Read more »

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The five partners in charge of Flip Flop Shops run their expanding franchise out of home offices spread across North America. How does this entirely remote team keep the business on track while maintaining a flip-flop friendly lifestyle? President Brian Curin fills us in. Read more »

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Coworking and independent work may seem utopian as workers escape being chained to dreary cubicles, but exploitation of contractors is still a danger. Are coworking spaces inadvertently making it easier to establish asymmetric power relationships and, if so, what’s to be done about it? Read more »

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Two design pros who will speak at an upcoming coworking conference on a panel about creating spaces that foster collaboration explain that, as technology allows teams to be far more nomadic, providers of corporate office spaces have a lot to learn from coworking. Read more »

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For skilled professionals, the increasing prevalence of independent work can be a blessing, but the trend toward replacing steady jobs with gig-based careers is bad news for the economy as a whole and inequality in particular, argues a Canadian magazine. Do you agree? Read more »

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“Solitude is out of fashion,” declared author Susan Cain in the New York Times Sunday Review, arguing that our fetishization of collaboration is bad for introverts and innovation. Is coworking a symptom of this groupthink or a solution to it? Space owners weigh in. Read more »

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The CEO of MBO Partners, a services company for independent workers, argues against the harshest critics of corporate HR, asserting that he’s seen a dramatic rise in big companies’ awareness of and ability to take advantage of new ways of working. Read more »

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