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So while many spaces sound like "true" coworking, they are still the minority. What can we do to fix this?
But what we're talking about goes far deeper than that. If all coworking did was create a world in which anyone anywhere could find a local community of people to work alongside and collaborate with, whether by way of small community space or large workspace provider, that would be awesome.
But to stop there would betray the far deeper and more important shift that is taking place.
When Brad Neuberg invented Coworking, with a capital "C", he envisioned a more complete support system for people who were otherwise on their own. They maintained a mutual schedule of business hours, went to lunch together, and did group activities. It wasn't located in an office facility; it was in a wellness center.
In other words, it was about far more than workspace from the outset.
A lot of what he pioneered was ahead of its time, but at the core of it is the need for us to think of this as a completely new framework for servicing the needs of a workforce that has total control over how, where, when, and why they work. That's really different from the workforce that the rest of the world is used to accommodating. The world is used to serving the needs of a workforce that commutes, works regular business hours, has a hierarchical employment system, regular paychecks, paid vacations, and all sorts of other constructs. Those things just don't fit the needs of these new folks anymore, and Coworking is the beginning of a solution.
But it's only the beginning. For coworking communities to distinguish themselves as something obviously different from renting office space, we have to continuously strive to find new ways to better serve that new workforce.
The fact that Benjamin and Derek and others have distanced themselves from "coworking" is a wake-up call. If we ("who's we?") are to continue to compel the attention, respect, admiration, awe, and participation of a world of people for whom the old ways don't work, we have to continue to work hard to earn it by aspiring to better fulfill those deeper needs, and by continuing to bring this future to light.
Keeping the perception of the word "coworking" centered on this deeper concept is important and it merits healthy discussion, but we only have so much control over that-- and, ultimately, it's just a shortcut.
What we're really talking about is work as we know it, and what it will look like when we change it.
Tony Bacigalupo
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New Work City
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Jacob hit on something I was just getting ready to submit here. I think the easier it is for a coworking community to describe what it "is" the more at risk they are to becoming a space (read "place to work") and less of a community. For the last 18 months I have struggled to find the right words to describe what we've created at Veel Hoeden and what I see elsewhere at other coworking communities. I recently realized it's hard to describe because it's like trying to describe and emotion or the reason you really like a certain person dearly. It's way too complex to put into a few words, and it is more about the feeling and the energy than a concrete picture you can paint for someone on the outside looking in.
That's why when I recently heard a "space" advertise themselves as a "business workspace" I already knew what I would find before I got there. It's why the discussions I see out here on "how we beat/shame/embarrass/destroy Regus" is one I don't worry about. To beat Regus at their own game we have to play their game, and the people and the coworking community I have grown to love out here are the ones who have decided to give that model the finger and create something deeper, more creative, with more emotion, and centered on the people and awesomeness. And in those types of places whether they bring in no money, mo money, or enough money, guys like me will be lining up to be a part of it.
Thanks & God Bless,
Joel Bennett
Chief Dreamchaser
Veel Hoeden
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