The new future of work and the rise of local ecosystems

By Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer

What does the future of work look like? Or is it already here – with us?  With hundreds of new startup ecosystems rising around the world, this is an opportune moment to assess the future of the workplace and the jobs that will remain.

In our post-pandemic world — which we can only hope will be here sooner than later — one can envision a workforce transformed by the global experiment of sheltering in place. One of the few rays of hope amongst the significant human costs with the past six months is that work has been significantly transformed. Where we work, how we work, and the tools we work with have shifted as billions of people experienced working outside of their workplace for the first time.

Looking at other trends, one can see the broader pattern of work drifting as well. As workers from technology giants like Google and Facebook, and from global banks to Wall Street firms can attest, it is looking like the importance of where we work will matter much less. But will this be a good thing? Or will it place more workers jobs in jeopardy as it did during the Great Recession when many jobs became transient gig work? Many companies, already suffering from significant reductions in revenue, will likely cut costs by reducing many jobs permanently.

One way you can look at this moment is through the lens of opportunity — as a crisis like this would be a terrible thing to waste. The past decade has seen an increase in cities acting as innovation hubs and foils to the dominance of Silicon Valley. Sure, cities like New York, London, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, have long been hubs for business model innovation, but over the past decade they have also been very successful in drawing both venture capital investment and entrepreneurs to build companies there. That’s been great for ecosystem diversification and for global job creation, but it has created something else which bodes well for the future of work.

Very visible startup and business activity is now occurring in cities like Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Hangzhou, Boston, Atlanta, Prague, Tel Aviv, Austin, Detroit, Philadelphia, and many more. What’s interesting about this shift is that it moves jobs from being centered in the expensive cities of the coasts, or in megacities and capitals throughout the U.S., western Europe, and Asia, to more reasonably affordable communities where training programs can educate more workers to match the new jobs of the coming decade.

Each ecosystem is unique. How we stimulate local entrepreneurship in each community, and activate innovation with local businesses, is more like an art rather than a straightforward manuscript. And we cannot simply replicate what works for Silicon Valley and expect it to work for other regions. COVID-19 will no doubt accelerate changes in our ecosystem and challenge incumbents and startups alike in each geographical hub. Now is the time to leverage our creative geniuses to let go of our biases and fly to new heights on untested wings. Now is the chance to reinvigorate local communities.

You would be hard pressed to find a bigger advocate than Manoj Govindan of building unique local community development opportunities, private-public partnerships that help drive innovation and create jobs. Join us for a new episode of One Vision, as Theo and Bradley chat with Manoj about venture building, innovation, and antifragility. You’ll also find out why he talks about hairballs. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it. Tune in on iTunes, Spotify, and all players.

The future of work – as it turns out – is no longer a thing of the future.

The future of work is now.

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“To be fully free to create, we must first find the courage and willingness to let go:

Let go of the strategies that have worked for us in the past…

Let go of our biases, the foundation of our illusions…

Let go of our grievances, the root source of our victimhood…

Let go of our so-often-denied fear of being found unlovable.”

? Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace

Unconventional Ventures helps drive innovation to improve systematic financial wellness. We connect founders to funders, provide mentorship to entrepreneurs, strategic advisory services to a broad set of corporates, and broaden opportunities for diversity within the ecosystem. Our belief is that anyone with great ideas should have a chance to succeed and every voice should be heard. Visit unconventionalventures.com to learn how you can partner with us today.

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