"Remote, Hybrid, In-Office - Most Managers Are Getting All Three Wrong"

Hi everyone, this is William Davis and this is today's Leadership Minute. You know, I probably get asked 3 or 4 times a week, why did you decide to retire at age 60, leave corporate America, and start your own business? Well, if I was going to be totally honest, this would not be the Leadership Minute, this would be the Leadership Month, because the list is that long. But I would say that probably the biggest reason that I decided to leave corporate America and get into speaking on leadership and writing books about leadership Is because I got tired, tired of how we treat our people. They're real human beings. They have real ambitions. They have real goals. They have real desires. But you know what? They also have real challenges in life that oftentimes cause them to suffer during the workday of 8 to 5. And when we make decisions about them, we need to understand that it has real-world, real-life consequences for them. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. But we need to understand that. You know, leaders are struggling to build trust, whether the person is in the office, remote, hybrid, or in an AI-driven workplace. And across 2026 workforce reports, whether it be Forbes, SHRM, or Deloitte, one issue keeps surfacing. Leaders are managing the systems and technology really well, but failing to lead their people. So it causes us to ask the question, what's really happening? Well, I think first of all, we need to understand something. Remote and hybrid work is now a permanent part of our work structure. That box was opened when we had the pandemic back in 2020, and we can't close it. But with remote and hybrid work, the relationships that we're seeing between leaders and their people has become much weaker. AI is increasing efficiency but decreasing the human connection That's so important. Employees feel less seen, less heard, and less valued. Why is that? It's not because leaders aren't present. They are. But they're disconnected from their people. See, this isn't a systems problem. This is a people problem. People placed in leadership roles who don't know how to lead people. See, leadership is personal. Right now, leaders are hiding behind excuses, whether it be they work remotely or they're not in the office every day, technology, processes, instead of doing the hard work, which is building trust, engaging with your people, having real conversations, both good and bad. And then showing up consistently for them. Remote and hybrid work didn't break leadership. It exposed it. Leaders think that the problem is distance, and it's not. The problem is disconnection. See, you don't lose relationships because people work remotely. You lose them because you stopped being intentional. Leadership, I have always said, is deceptively simple. But simple doesn't mean it's easy. You actually have to reach out. You have to check in. You have to listen. And most of all, you have to care about your people. Technology is a great thing, but it didn't replace leadership. It removed their excuses. If your people feel invisible, that's not a workplace model problem. That's a leadership problem. And if leaders aren't connecting with their people, that's not a technology problem. That's a leadership problem. You see, leadership is personal. And if you want to be the leader people brag about and not just the one that they have to survive, You need to start acting like it. This is William Davis, and that's been today's Leadership Minute.