In my past life as a brand counsel, I ran a company that has been remote since 2010.
Way before remote was a thing that anyone had a word for.
It wasn’t (still isn’t) easy. During annual compliance filings, we’d often be asked to jump through hoops that made no sense. Where do you meet clients was a common question. At their office. A coffee shop. On Skype. Sometimes prospects would pick a bricks-and-mortar company over us, afraid we might vanish into the ether one morning.
Then the pandemic-that-is-now-nameless upended the world order and forever changed the shape of work. Overnight, remote was the new order of things.
Governments everywhere gave the titans of industry carte blanche to commandeer living rooms, dining tables, balconies, and bedrooms, all in the service of productivity. It wasn’t long before the think pieces arrived. How to remote. How to productively remote. How to remote with children. Folks offering styling tips to bedazzle rooms for Zoom calls. Products for smarter remote. I watched in horror because most of it was gaslighting of the highest order. It wasn’t remote but office-at-home, always on and often monitored, a long way from the asynchronous framework we had thrived in for years.
As suddenly as it began, remote work was quietly dismantled, even by companies that swore they would never. For us, through it all and even after, nothing changed.
Well, one thing did – no one treats us like we’re oddballs anymore.
But I digress.
This edition is about Linchpins who have chosen uncharted paths to define the shape of their work.
Like Divya and Chuck, who fit work in the contours of their vibrant lives,
like Bhinoy, who is paying it forward by teaching others to stand tall,
like Pai, who turns their own struggles into work that helps others feel less alone, and
like Akash and Devarsh, who are building a sustainable business that lets us keep our favourite things around longer.
From our own story, we know what it costs to take a path less travelled. Nevertheless, they persevered, and we salute every one of them.
They are our kind of oddballs. We hope you take to them just as much as we have.
– Karina
