Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The Hidden Danger of Starting Your Career 100% Remote | Joe Yaffe

3 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, Cameron Herold warns that beginning a career entirely remote deprives early‑career professionals of essential cultural immersion and habit formation that occur through daily, in‑person interactions. He frames a career as a 30‑40‑year marathon, arguing that remote work at the start makes it “impossible” to develop the perspective needed for long‑term success. Herold shares an anecdote about his 23‑year‑old son, who rejected a remote internship in the UK, calling the idea “fucking stupid” because he wanted to be physically present in an office to absorb culture. He distinguishes this from hybrid work, which he says is appropriate for employees already embedded in a company’s culture, allowing short‑term remote stints (e.g., working from Barcelona) without losing the benefits of office presence. Overall, he critiques remote‑first entry‑level roles and advocates for in‑person experiences to build career foundations.

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My bigger concern is with people starting out their careers that way, they don't have the perspective of understanding that your career is a marathon. To do it right, it's supposed to last 30, 40 years. Doing that remotely, I think it's going to be impossible. It's not fun. My youngest son's been running his own business for a couple of years already. He just turned 23 and he was doing an internship in the UK last year and they said that they'd give him an internship, but it was going to be remote. My son's like, that's fucking stupid as an idea because I don't want to be on a Zoom call 3 times a week with people. I want to be in an office around people immersed in the, in the middle of the culture. You pick up habits just from seeing people in person. You'll never get off of Zoom. Where I think the hybrid part works is allowing people that are already on board or already immersed in the culture, they're already up to speed and stuff, taking time away from the day-to-day to be, yeah, let me go work from Barcelona for a couple weeks. Cool, go do that, but then come back to the office again. But not starting your job that way, and certainly not setting it up. I agree. You're always, you know, you're always going to be at home. It just doesn't make any sense to me.