Dr. Laura welcomes guest Kaleem Clarkson, CEO of Blend Me, Inc., to the show to talk about the importance of remote work. Blend Me, Inc. is a consultancy that helps small businesses transform into remote or hybrid-remote workplaces. Kaleen is a passionate advocate for remote work and his conversation with Dr. Laura reveals why.

Kaleem reminds us that at the start of the pandemic much of the working world went remote in just a month. He points to that as being one of the best examples of business leaders’ ability to transform and be agile. But now, with a push to return to the office like before, he says leaders are falling into what he calls “leadership nostalgia”. Kaleem and Dr. Laura discuss how leaders are afraid of what the future holds and back away from remote-hybrid work because what they know is comforting. Kaleem explains how he became passionate about remote work, why office buildings are still vacant, and his desire for vacant buildings to become residential assets. The discussion sheds light on why we shouldn’t move backwards away from the remote work ground we’ve gained.

“… leaders love the way things used to be. That's what they knew, and I've been trying to gain a lot more empathy. I think that's one thing, humility, a little more humility. A little more empathy for some of these leaders because they don't know any other way. You know, that's how they moved up the ranks. They went to the golf course, they played golf. They were the chummy person in the office a lot of times, like that's how they were able to get ahead and that's all they know.”  Kaleem Clarkson

About Kaleem Clarkson:

Kaleem is a husband, father, remote work advocate, and speaker. He is the Chief Operating Officer of Blend Me, Inc, a fractional people operations consultancy that helps startups and small businesses transform into high-functioning remote or hybrid-remote workplaces by improving the remote employee experience.

He has been featured in Harvard Business Review, CNBC, Fortune Magazine, named to LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Remote Work, listed as one of the top 15 Remote Work Advocates by the All-American Speakers Bureau and named as a 2023 Top Remote Work Influencer by Remote.com. Kaleem has presented at South by Southwest, Transform HR, Make-A-Wish Foundation and has shared the stage alongside leadership from companies such as Google, United Airlines, Facebook, Visa, and HP. Kaleem is passionate about work-life integration and the remote employee experience.

Resources:

Website: BlendMeInc.com

Website: RemotelylOne.com 

Kaleem Clarkson on LinkedIn

How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast

Harvard Business Review

Smartless with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett podcast

Learn more about Dr. Laura on her website: https://drlaura.live

For more resources, look into Dr. Laura’s organizations: 

Canada Career Counselling

Synthesis Psychology

Pre-order Dr. Laura’s new book today: I Wish I’d Quit Sooner: Practical Strategies for Navigating a Toxic Boss

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.