University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Running Remote
Book

Running Remote

Master the Lessons from the World’s Most Successful Remote-Work Pioneers

Liam Martin and Rob Rawson
HarperCollins Leadership, 2022
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Beginning in 2019, the COVID pandemic forced many companies to go remote in ways their leaders once thought impossible. While some stumbled, and some companies are now requiring staff members to return to the office, at least on a hybrid schedule, other firms embraced working from home. Consultants Liam Martin and Rob Rawson offer experienced guidance about the ins and outs of remote work. They find that having a remote workforce requires leaders to adopt an “asynchronous” mindset that empowers employees with true autonomy. Remote workers may miss out on in-person collaboration and on some promotion opportunities that require being in the office, but they gain flexibility, time for individual deep work, heightened online skills, and often, greater productivity and growth.

Summary

Companies can build and scale a better business with a remote workforce.

When Rob Rawson and Liam Martin started their Running Remote consultancy, they sought to prove that leaders can build a business without having every employee in the same place.

When the authors approached venture capital firms to seek funding for their growing consultancy, each VC firm encouraged them to relocate to its particular city, with investors claiming that building a “tech unicorn” required having the whole workforce under one roof. Rawson and Martin proved them wrong. They developed a successful business with a dispersed workforce, and many of the firms they first solicited have since turned to them for advice on building a productive remote or hybrid workforce.

When remote-first companies achieve significant growth, their success throws many beliefs about the necessity of in-office collaboration into question. Studies show that the watercooler culture of office politics costs businesses more than $600 billion a year in wasted time. In contrast, remote businesses prove 30% to 40% more productive, and most remote employees report...

About the Authors

Liam Martin and CEO Rob Rawson co-founded Time Doctor.com which offers time and productivity tracking for remote teams.

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