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For decades, we’ve been told that technology would liberate us from mundane work, yet somehow we ended up more tethered to our desks than ever. Now, groundbreaking research from GoTo suggests we may finally be reaching the inflection point where artificial intelligence doesn’t just promise freedomit delivers it. But the real revelation isn’t that AI might make offices obsolete. It’s that AI is creating the conditions for what I call “cultivation-centered work”an approach that prioritizes human development over performative productivity. The Great Workplace Liberation The numbers tell a compelling story: 51% of employees believe AI will eventually make physical offices obsolete, while 62% would prefer AI-enhanced remote working over traditional office environments. But here’s what makes this shift profoundit’s not about rejecting human connection. Instead, it’s about reclaiming the autonomy to choose when, where, and how we engage most meaningfully with our work and colleagues. This aligns perfectly with the core principles of my book, Move. Think. Rest. When 71% of workers say AI gives them more flexibility and work-life balance, they’re describing the conditions necessary for true cultivation. They’re talking about having time to think deeply, space to move naturally throughout their day, and permission to rest when their bodies and minds require it. From Extraction to Integration What’s particularly striking about GoTos research is how it reveals AI’s potential to support the full spectrum of human experience at work. Traditional productivity models demanded we compartmentalize ourselvesshow up as disembodied brains focused solely on output. But AI-enhanced work environments are creating space for integration. When employees report that AI allows them to “work anywhere without losing productivity” (66%), they’re really describing the freedom to align their work rhythms with their natural energy cycles. They can take walking meetings in nature, think through problems during movement, and create the environmental conditions that support their best thinking. The Cultivation Disconnect However, the research also reveals a concerning gap that organizations must address. While 91% of IT leaders believe their companies effectively use AI to support distributed teams, only 53% of remote and hybrid employees agree. This disconnect isn’t just about technology deploymentit’s about understanding the difference between using AI to replicate old productivity models versus leveraging it to support human flourishing. The companies bridging this gap successfully are those asking different questions. Instead of “How can AI make people more productive?” they’re asking “How can AI create conditions where people naturally thrive?” They’re designing AI implementations that support the three pillars of cultivation: movement (flexibility to work in various environments), thought (time and space for deep reflection), and rest (permission to disengage and recharge). The Age-Defying Impact One of the most encouraging findings challenges ageist assumptions about technology adoption. The research shows that across all generationsfrom 90% of remote Gen Z workers to 74% of baby boomerspeople report improved productivity through AI-enhanced remote work. This suggests something profound: when technology truly serves human needs rather than demanding adaptation to machine rhythms, people of all ages can benefit. This generational unity points to AI’s potential as an equalizing forcenot in the sense of making everyone the same, but in honoring the diverse ways different people think, process, and contribute. Perhaps most telling is that 61% of employeesincluding those working in officesbelieve organizations should prioritize AI investment over fancy workplace amenities. This isn’t about choosing technology over human experience. It’s about recognizing that true employee experience comes from having the tools and flexibility to do meaningful work in ways that honor their full humanity. The Path Forward As AI reshapes work, we have a choice. We can use it to create more sophisticated forms of surveillance and productivity extraction, or we can leverage it to finally realize the promise of technology serving human flourishing. The organizations that choose the latter will find themselves with a profound competitive advantage: employees who are not just more productive, but more creative, more engaged, and more capable of the kind of breakthrough thinking that drives innovation. The question isn’t whether AI will transform workit already is. The question is whether we’ll use this transformation to create workplaces that cultivate human potential or merely optimize human output. The GoTo research suggests employees are ready for cultivation. The question is: are their leaders?
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E-Commerce
Modern skyscrapers may as well be spaceships. Their exteriors are usually impenetrably smooth, their shapes are often aerodynamic, and, for the most part, if you want to open a window, forget about it.The new Shenzhen headquarters for the Chinese fintech company WeBank punches holes right through this convention. Designed by SOM, the 30-story tower employs a diverse range of ventilation techniques that break the seal of the typical glass-and-steel skyscraper. It could be a new model for letting air inside tall buildings, letting people out, and improving the overall experience of working in a skyscraper.[Photo: Dave Burk for SOM]Completed earlier this year, the naturally ventilated high rise’s design uses open-air terraces, operable windows, and precisely engineered indoor atria to bring natural air inside and throughout the building. Large double-height spaces on the edges of the building are open to the air, and sliding doors and pop-out windows around the building let air move inside easily. “There aren’t that many buildings out there at this height that have this degree of indoor-outdoor space,” says Scott Duncan, an architect and design partner at SOM. Most skyscrapers have a very opaque division between inside and out. “Here, it’s a blurry one,” he says.The hermetically sealed skyscraper is starting to evolve, though. Since the pandemic, architects and developers have been looking at the glass-walled skyscraper through new eyes, adding more outdoor access and operable windows. WeBank’s headquarters takes this idea and integrates it into the building’s DNA, making access to the outdoors easy from every floor.Access to airflow is also prioritized within the center of the building. Multiple atria run vertically through several floors and create both visual interest and connectivity for workers as well as a pathway for air to flow through the space. Like the voids inside a block of Swiss cheese, the atria are negative space that allow hot air to move up and out of the building through a phenomenon known as the stack effect.“We shaped and sized all of these holes in the floor to allow for airflow through and across levels,” Duncan says. With multiple atria of different shapes that act almost like an upside down funnel, the designers could control how air gets vented out of the building.[Photo: Courtesy of SOM]Luke Leung, an engineer and sustainability lead at SOM who designed the atria, says the building has up to six air changes every hour, or a nearly complete venting of the air inside. For the health of people insideparticularly in the case of an airborne virus like COVIDsuch frequent air changes are optimal. “In 30 minutes, it would eliminate 95% of all the contaminants in the floor using natural means,” Leung says.The atria also have a social side, offering varying views within the building and across floors. Their borders become a kind of gathering place, with staircases running between floors and flexible workspaces around their edges.Part of this comes from the company itself, which is China’s first digital-only bank. Duncan says the company wanted a more modern approach to how each floor was laid out and how flexible it could be. Instead of building a taller building, the company opted to make each floor largerroughly 50,000 square feet, instead of a more typical 35,000 square feet. “They’re constantly recomposing their teams. So the more horizontal they could be, the more flexible they could be in terms of being able to connect multiple teams on a single floor,” says Duncan. “It’s a tech company, but it’s also a bank. And so those two cultures were coming together in this building.”
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E-Commerce
Amaya Matos was 19 years old when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Shed just graduated high school, but instead of heading off to college or hanging out with friends, she spent much of her time sitting in a hospital bed, scrolling on her phone. Getting treatment for cancer can be extremely isolating: physically, especially when youre inpatient and at constant risk of infection; and mentally, because no one else in your life fully understands what youre going through. Now 25, Matos is approaching five years of remission, but shes still managing complications. A stem cell transplant triggered graft versus host disease, a condition in which donated stem cells attack the patients own body. Chronic graft versus host disease is rare, and navigating it can be just as lonely. But today, Matos has a way of connecting with others going through the same thing: an app called CancerBuddy. It connects patients, survivors, and caregivers through an array of filters like diagnosis, age, and gender identity. Users can swipe through CancerBuddy like a dating app to match and talk with others, and the app also has topic-based groupsthere’s one for young adults, one around nutrition, and even one for graft versus host disease. Without this, I dont know where I would be in my survivorship journey, because I dont know who I would have leaned on that would have really gotten it, Matos says. Before doctors appointments, she often checks the group to see what others have shared. It allows me to feel like I can advocate for myself, she says. Im allowed to ask questions. Im allowed to ask for more elaboration. ‘Why not use this to connect patients?’ The app, developed by the Bone Marrow & Cancer Foundation, launched in beta in 2022 and has recently begun rolling out to hospitals. Christina Merrill, founder and CEO of the Bone Marrow & Cancer Foundation, created CancerBuddy after decades of working directly with cancer patients. Ive always been a big proponent of connecting patient to patient, survivor to survivor, caregiver to caregiver, she says. Yet hospitals and advocacy groups often struggle to make those connections. For years, the foundation facilitated introductions manually through its website. That approach was hard to scale and complicated by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) rules, since it required patient consent before sharing any information about diagnoses. (CancerBuddy is private and doesnt share information; its also free.) Some hospitals have peer programs and support groups too, but then the COVID-19 pandemic prevented people from gathering in person. Sometimes people also travel far for care, so they cant easily come back to a facility for such a group. Hospital staff like nurses or social workers (which Merrill was for years) are often too overworked to connect patients. Inspiration struck as Merrill returned to the dating world after a divorce. She began swiping on dating apps, and thought, This technology is incredible. Why not use this to connect patients? She worked with design agency Frog to build the CancerBuddy app, equipping it with all these different filters so patients could find, really, the perfect match. Connecting cancer patients by their commonalities is crucial, Merrill says. A patient sitting in a hospital with colorectal cancer who is 20 years old, its very hard for them to relate to somebody that has colorectal cancer whos in their 60s or 70s. They want to meet somebody else that is their age and where they are in their life, she says. The same applies to diagnosis; someone with breast cancer undergoes different treatments than someone with leukemia. They cant feel the support they would if they meet someone with the exact same diagnosis, Merrill says. Cancer survivors, too, face their own unique experiences, including a lot of uncertainty. Are they going to relapse? What can they do or not do in terms of activities post treatment? Merrill says. Cancer survivors commonly experience anxiety and depression. They’re supposed to be relieved that they’re cancer free. But instead, they’re worried about the future, so they can relate to others that are going through that, and really get that support that they need. ‘You feel less lonely’ Then there are the caregivers. Matoss mom filled that role, driving her to treatments and even donating stem cells. When she got on the app as a caregiver, she [had been] down the rabbit hole of, why is this happening to my kid? It doesnt even run in our family, Matos said. On CancerBuddy, she found other caregivers asking the same questions and wrestling with the same emotions. It just makes you take a step back and think, were all in this together. We can continue to be in it together and share highs and lows. Research consistently shows that social support boosts cancer patients emotional wellbeing and overall quality of life. Peer connection reduces loneliness, improves mental health, and can even affect survival: one study found that cancer survivors who reported higher levels of loneliness were 67% more likely to die than those with stronger social ties. And the need for connection is only growing. In the coming year, experts project that new first-time cases of cancer in the U.S. will surpass 2 million. Thats nearly 5,500 new diagnoses every day. Some patients and survivors turn to public Facebook groups, but those are open to anyone, arent run by cancer organizations, and lack moderation, Merrill notes. CancerBuddy, by contrast, is moderated by her team. In one case, a teenager newly diagnosed with lymphoma posted in the adolescents and young adult group, saying he was questioning his life. Merrill was quickly alerted and able to check in. Within minutes, others in the group also began messaging him. Hes still a member today. CancerBuddy remains small, with about 6,000 patients and survivors currently using it, but Merrill says the numbers grow every week. For many, the impact is already clear. As Matos puts it: You feel less lonely. You really do. And I think that that’s a huge thing when you’re going through something.
Category:
E-Commerce
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