I’ve been placing C-level executives for more than 25 years. When I talk to private equity partners or boards about remote working today, it’s no longer a philosophical question for me. It’s about protecting assets.
To put it bluntly: anyone who still has to tell their people where to work from is really admitting one thing: “I don’t actually know how else to measure their performance.”
After more than ten years of leading remotely and hundreds of placements, my view of the market is clear, and perhaps uncomfortable:
presence is the crutch of weak leaders. If you need people in the office to “feel” performance, you’re hiding your shortcomings behind occupied chairs.
Remote working doesn’t make anything worse. It just exposes, mercilessly, the processes and responsibilities that weren’t working before.
The best people in the market aren’t interested in being babysat by the boss. Put control above trust today and you’ll end up with exactly the staff you deserve: the uncreative ones who clock in and do the minimum while the lights are on.
In my teams, and at the clients who will win the war for talent in 2026, a different currency applies:
1. Clear goals.
2. Full responsibility for results.
3. Zero tolerance for micromanagement.
The best candidates I put on shortlists today don’t ask about the fruit bowl. They ask: “Do you lead by impact or by the clock?”
Anyone who still dismisses this as a new-work fad in 2026 is confusing leadership with supervision. And supervision is the surest route to irrelevance at executive level.
Hand on heart:
do you measure your people’s output, or are you still counting cars in the car park?
