Last night in San Francisco, I hosted a dinner with a group of world-class workplace leaders after an epic Real Estate AI event at OpenAI’s STUNNING office (thanks for the invite Tracy Hawkins!).
This wasn’t some sales dinner…
Or a product showcase…
(That’s not how we roll at Kadence)
It was a room full of the Bay Area’s most thoughtful people on the Future of Work talking about something that’s hard to quantify but impossible to ignore:
How do we build workplaces (not just physically) that help us feel more connected – especially in a world that feels increasingly disconnected by design?
The Bee and the Dandelion
I opened the night with a story my wife told me that morning at 5:30am while I was jet-lagged…
The night before, a bee had flown into our house. It had slammed into a window and looked like it wasn’t going to make it. Our daughter, who turns seven tomorrow (I’m writing this from the plane and am super excited to be with her on lucky number 7!), was very upset and wanted to help.
So she said, “Let’s find it a flower to feed it.” There weren’t any around…so she picked a couple of dandelions and brought them over. My wife was telling me on the phone that her instinct was to shut it down. It was past bedtime. And honestly…dandelions??
She thought, “That’s not a real flower. That won’t work.” (I totally woulda felt the same way and thought the same thing). But our daughter said, “Why not try?” So they did. The bee fed from the dandelions. And by morning, it was gone.
Later in the day, my wife texted me and said a bee – same size, same energy – was hovering at the back door! Maybe it was the same one. Maybe not. But it felt like it.
The Workplace Metaphor
This story stuck with me throughout the day as I was roaming the halls of epic workplaces like Okta, Salesforce Tower, Airbnb, Twilio, Uber and OpenAI (crazy I got through all of those in one day!)
It wasn’t really about the bee… It was about my daughter’s mindset:
She stayed open. Curious. Willing to care.
Whereas we adults often narrow. We assume we know how things are supposed to work. We miss the dandelions…
And if that’s not a metaphor for the workplace, I don’t know what is!
The Connection Challenge
Connection isn’t broken…we’ve just stopped staying open, curious and willing to care.
We’ve long been told the office is where connection happens. But let’s be honest: the old model was often performative. Forced fun. Rituals without meaning. Etc…
And remote work didn’t break connection. It revealed how thin it already was. Ever heard that saying: “Remote work doesn’t kill culture, it reveals it.”? It’s kinda hard to deny!
And as we come off the back of Covid we’re experiencing a strange tension…
Remote work has reconnected many of us to our actual lives – our families, our neighborhoods, our daily rhythms.
But tech – and now AI – is pulling us into more isolation. More output. Less presence.
The Dinner Conversation
To kick things off, I first asked our guests to introduce themselves and answer two questions:
Where in the world or under what circumstances do you feel most at home?
What was your first email address?
The answers were both moving and hilarious!
After that, my prompt for dinner chats became simple:
If AI gave you back 15 hours of your week… how would you actually use that time?
I wasn’t seeking any “right” answers… Just revelations about what we value, what we’re missing and who we want more time with.
We had no agenda beyond conversation. No presentations. No pre-approved talking points. Just great food, open minds, and questions worth asking.
Featured Content
7 Steps To Hybrid Success
Streamline your team’s success—download our free checklist today!
Which brings me to what we’re REALLY building at Kadence.
We’re not just building scheduling tools or workplace analytics dashboards… We’re building ways to help people be together – intentionally and meaningfully.
Because the future of work isn’t about tracking time or enforcing presence… It’s about designing for belonging – and making space for those “dandelion” moments we’d otherwise overlook.
Thanks to everyone who came! Let’s keep asking better questions. Let’s keep noticing the small things.
Because life is made of small moments like these…
Curious about what this means for your workplace? Let’s talk. I’d love to hear what’s on your mind.
Dave Cairns
Future of Work Strategist
Dave is Kadence’s Future of Work Strategist. He foresees what’s unfolding in the world of work and advises our customers on how to prepare and adapt to the latest trends easily.
