We speak with Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski about the role of technologically-mediated communications in the workplace and the impacts of Virtual Distance. Karen is the Founder and CEO of Virtual Distance International whose thinking is a rare blend of computer science, applied mathematics and the humanities.  

Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski is the Founder and CEO of Virtual Distance International (VDI), an executive advisory firm specializing in Hybrid and Future of Work.  Her software and consulting services are powered by her award-winning discovery of Virtual Distance – the growing sense of disconnection resulting from computer mediated communications.  Since Covid-19 began, Karen’s work has become ever more prescient and is leveraged around the world to solve the most significant work shift challenges.

Some of her clients include Bank of America, the U.S. Navy, The World Economic forum and other large organizations in governments, healthcare private sector, non-profits, academic institutions and more; the list growing as institutions seek her out to help them navigate hybrid work with human well-being in the digital age and pandemic era.

Karen is also the author of three best-selling books: The Power of Virtual Distance:  A Guide to Productivity and Happiness in the Age of Remote Work (Wiley, 2020), Leading the Virtual Workforce and Uniting the Virtual Workforce. Karen has been showcased in the NYT, WSJ, CNBC, NPR and other global outlets.  She is a highly sought-after motivational guru and international speaker on hybrid work, The Future of Work,  Human Experience and Well-Being in the Age of Digital Everything, and related topics.

You can follow Karen’s work or get in touch with her at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drkarenlojeskivirtualdistance/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtualdistance/ 

Website: https://virtualdistance.com/

• Communication using digital technology has unintended consequences
• Why direct experience (versus tech mediated experience) is important, and how our we’re losing touch with direct experience
• Why you should be sceptical about “experience management”
• How technology is evolving to decrease our access to disconfirming information, and how that negatively affects the way we relate to one another
• What Virtual Distance is, and how high Virtual Distance can negatively impact organisational culture
• What the impact of remote work is on Virtual Distance
• Physical distance is the least important element that contributes to VIrtual Distance
• How deliberately switching between different modes of communication (i.e. in-person, audio, video, written) can build richer understanding.
• Why “Culture change” initiatives don’t work, and how thinking about “layering” culture is a better approach
• Why embodied cognition matters for greater depth perception

• A Virtual Distance 3 minute primer
• Virtual Distance: An origin story
• Dr. Lojeski’s article in the Harvard Business Review, The Subtle Ways Our Screens Are Pushing Us Apart
• www.thepowerofvirtualdistance.com
• CUBE interview with Dr. Karen Lojeski, Virtual Distance International
• Summary of Dr. Lojeski’s latest book, The Power of Virtual Distance. 
• A recent interview with Dr. Lojeski with Journal: Technology Is Not the Real Problem Here
• Virtual distance: technology is rewriting the rulebook for human interaction
• Soul-Based Leadership: A New Way to Lead in a New World of Work
• There is No Such Thing as AI
• TED Talk: The Threshold Generation: The Last to Understand Real vs Virtual

We hope you enjoyed this episode. We'd love to hear what you think. Get in touch with us via our website, LinkedIn, or Facebook if you’d like to say hello, dish out some high praise, or suggest a guest for the show.

We don't charge for the content we create, but if you feel you received value from listening to The Work, then we gratefully and graciously accept your support.

Support the creators of The Work podcast for the price of a coffee per month.

Organisational culture, culture change, virtual distance, affinity distance, operational distance, physical distance, remote work, digital technology, embodied cognition, depth perception, unintended consequences, hofstede model, technology mediated communication, disintermediation, computer science, empathy, employee experience, experiencemanagement, imagination, complexity, cynefin, neuroscience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.