Patriots Day
I probably have more than 6 degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon but if I have any, it’s because of the movie Patriots Day.
I never watched this when it was released in 2017 because my mom was dying.
You see all that blue branding behind Mark Wahlberg in this promo image? In 2013, I worked for the primary sponsor of the Boston Marathon.
Shocking to me that the bombings and subsequent manhunt that shut down Boston for days was 10 years ago.
I remembered about this the other day during a conversation with Nick Bloom and Darren Murph about the fact that hybrid/remote de-risks operations. I seem to have suppressed a lot of memories about the bombings. I worked with many people based in Boston and for 5 years, my clients were centred in Massachusetts. By 2013, my assigned clients had shifted to the Midwest - Minnesota mostly.
Construction shutting down the highways into the city?
Work from home.
Snowfall 3 times the expected amount making commuting impossible and dangerous? Work from home.
Schools closed for 10 days to reduce pollution levels?
Work from home.
Manhunt shutting down the city, terrorizing citizens and making international headlines?
No one in the city is working.
Global operations mean that work is shifted to other locations and Toronto provided business continuity during this tragedy.
2013 is the year I experienced a return to office mandate. I broke my foot in 2012 and was working at home 5 days a week because I couldn’t drive. The pilot ended in November and I lost all flexibility. I don’t wish an RTO mandate on anyone because I’ve lived it. It’s one of the reasons I do the work I do.
5 days 100% at home to zero.
I do remember the nightmares.
I was never in physical danger but when the bombings first happened, we didn’t know the motives. Information was limited - we got very little communication internally and most of our understanding came from the news.
Logical or not, I started having nightmares that our Toronto office would be bombed and I would have to be one of the people tasked with working from home 24/7 to keep the business running. I live far enough north of Toronto that I would have been safe but I would have been one of the few. The nightmares were extraordinarily vivid and left me exhausted. In comparison to the terror in Boston, my experience pales. I can’t fathom it. I learned there is a documentary on Netflix about the manhunt but I can’t bring myself to watch it. Patriots Day was enough.
https://lnkd.in/gBZSq6_M
Commuting to the office was already challenging because of my foot injury - that week in April, RTO and commuting required a different type of bravery and resilience.
10 years later, I’m an advocate and B2B consultant advising organizations how to redesign work, implement and nurture hybrid/remote. 10 years later, the company I once worked for no longer sponsors the Boston Marathon.
Change is ongoing. All we can do is imagine and create a better future.
