iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 30/09/2026

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that the CEO who ignored his original Board’s concerns about safety also ignored his employees’ concerns about the same.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 26/08/2026

Hey @nytimes.com could you please fix this embarrassing crap? Every news alert in gmail now carries this massive mess ahead of the content.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 08/07/2026

What day is it? Borrowed, and I don’t remember from whom, but yet again appropriate.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 08/04/2026

Dear managers: the beatings will continue until morale approves. Not surprisingly, Gallup’s 2026 “State of Workplace” found that employee engagement dropped again last year: down to 20% overall. Managers took the biggest swing: down 30% over the course of the last 3 years, from 31% to 22%.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 03/03/2026

69% of c-suite leaders are using AI less than an hour a week. 28% of them don't use it at all: zero, zilch, nada. At the same time, 50% of CEOs say they fear for their jobs if they don't make progress on leveraging AI in 2026. All hype, little lived experience.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 30/09/2025

Giving someone a meditation app to help with burnout is like treating a third-degree burn with a bandaid. What works? Learn to recognize the signs, clear priorities, and opportunities to grow -- not just taking breaks. 👉 sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-... Image credit @omarwhatworks.bsky.social

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 05/09/2025

Just a reminder of how hard Trump had to work to mess up this economy.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 31/07/2025

Stack ranking and removing the bottom XX% is back in vogue, esp in Big Tech. As a reminder, here's the org chart that resulted in at Microsoft in the 2000's: internal competition. Research on why it backfires long term, and alternative paths: theworkforward.substack.com/p/stop-ranki...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 16/07/2025

Those perceptions of productivity gains might not be real: recent research found developers estimated they were 20% more productive using AI tools, when they were actually 19% slower.

Average percentage of time spent per activity among developer tasks -- shows less time coding, more time on other activities including new ones like prompting, reviewing and waiting on AI

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 16/07/2025

Five major studies on AI adoption recently dropped. The findings are insightful & alarming. The employees getting the biggest productivity gains are also 2X more likely to quit, with 88% higher burnout rates. Even scarier? Heavy AI users say they'd rather chat with ChatGPT than their colleagues.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 18/06/2025

“He thought he was the King of America… Now he’s a brilliant mistake.” Elvis Costello & the Imposters

Stage with Elvis Costello and the Imposters playing

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 14/06/2025

Poulsbo WA, pop 12k, organizers expected a few hundred and had several thousand folks show up.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 12/06/2025

That’s one heck of a map. Over 2,000 locations. Hope you will join me out there Saturday. www.nokings.org

Map of the US showing No Kings locations all over the map

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 06/06/2025

Every org I work with these days has a big "director slump", especially in tech. Overloaded, no time to put hands on craft, all the responsibility & no authority. Bosses make decisions, send the memo so you can pass it to your already burned-out team. theworkforward.substack.com/p/techs-lead...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 22/05/2025

Good way to remember your mortality: set up a Google alert on your name.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 20/05/2025

Fortune 500 CEOs might be cranking up return-to-office demands, but employees aren't obeying. Policies aren't reality, commands don't breed compliance. New data from the Flex Index by Work Forward digs into workplace flexibility policies in over 8,500 US-based companies: www.flexindex.com/stats

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 18/05/2025

Having watched 3 SNL skits last night about Newark, I’ll take a delay to relieve congestion over something worse. Still a pain getting this when I’m in the car 5 minutes from the airport.

United flight SF to Newark is delayed. Current conditions are limiting the number of planes allowed to land each hour at Newark

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 13/05/2025

Need a mood booster? Go see @theymightbegiants.bsky.social Two days later and I’m still walking around singing “Birdhouse in your soul”

They Might Be Giants playing the Filmore in San Francisco on Sunday May 11th. That’s John, and the other one is Jon. I think.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 09/05/2025

Congrats to all my friends and family in Chicago

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 02/05/2025

Me, still wanting smart, insightful, and diverse leaders on event panels.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 21/04/2025

The Dow headed back to “Liberation Day” low point. “No way to run a country…” still applies: open.substack.com/pub/theworkf...

Chart of the Dow Jones industrial average since Inauguration. Chart drops to low point in early April and is close to same as of noon ET on April 21

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 15/04/2025

How massive will the disruption of jobs by generative AI be? I don't know. There will be displacement. Pretending that there will be no impact or that we can map it all is misleading. The bigger question? Will firms re-skill workers or "rip and replace", losing know-how, engagement & trust.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 12/04/2025

Happy, motivated employees create great customer experiences, driving shareholder value Today, leaders are falling back on short term thinking: cut heads, command-and-control. Debbie Lovich has the alternative: radical employee-centricity. Full chat: theworkforward.substack.com/p/joy-in-thi...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 10/04/2025

It's 2001, and I've laid off more people than I ever hired. It's 2013, I'm being laid off. It's 1990, I'm afraid I'll be laid off. It's 2008, I'm making sure we avoid layoffs. It's 2023, my friends in tech are being laid off. It's 2025, I'm financially stable, and still worried...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 02/04/2025

"This one size fits all RTO mandate makes no sense." That's HBS Professor Raj Choudhury talking about the importance of teams coming together -- but that the solution has to fit your talent strategy and the needs of the team. Not just a CEO's preference. Interview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MPj...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 17/03/2025

Nobody "likes" the IRS. But slashing $20b in spend and half the workforce will result in a $45b net loss. 7 former IRS commissioners: this "shifts the burden from tax evaders to honest taxpayers." The current tax gap from underpayment? $700B annually. theworkforward.substack.com/p/no-way-to-...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 05/03/2025

Luckily the stain didn't distract too much. Here's a sketch from an attendee...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 05/03/2025

About to go on stage and spill half a cup of coffee down my shirt. Good morning all….

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 29/01/2025

Corrected it for you, Senior Administration Official. You're only off by a factor of 9X. Federal workers are actually in the office more than the private sector -- many of them because the job requires it. @axios.com you need to fact-check these folks...

Origina text:What they're saying: "The government-wide email being sent today is to make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration's plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards," a senior administration official tells Axios."We're five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable."Corrected:"We're five years past COVID and just 54% percent of federal employees work full-time in office and another 34% are in the office 3 days a week. That is much higher than the private sector."

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 25/01/2025

Related, office vacancy rates and office mortgage delinquencies hit an all-time high at the end of '24. Still wondering if Big Bank return-to-office demands are related to real estate? Wonder no more... /4

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 25/01/2025

Office utilization (butts in seats) is 50% of pre-pandemic. That hasn't changed much the last two years. The week of Jan 15th, which should have been up massively given headlines? 49% "Pre-pandemic" average at most companies was ~50% seat utilization. So reality? 25% of seats occupied today. /3

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 25/01/2025

Work from home is up 5X from pre-pandemic levels, according to @nickbloom.bsky.social and team's tracking. The trendline has been very modestly down the last year, but largely "flat as a pancake" as Nick puts it. /2

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 25/01/2025

Is "work from home" dead, thanks to Trump? 68% of US-based firms would have to change their minds. Plenty of firms who get that flexibility gives them a talent advantage. /1

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 24/01/2025

Want to drive up "masculine energy" at work? Impose a 5 day a week "return to office" mandate. 3X more women than men leave. Along with more experienced, higher skilled people -- those who can find a better place to work. For more: www.linkedin.com/posts/bellio...

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 23/01/2025

Maybe it can make time go backwards and people can reconsider their vote?

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 24/12/2024

Great movie and I use this visual from it regularly.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 16/12/2024

Fixed, plus 3 other folks I forgot.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 16/12/2024

Let's celebrate some of the heroes of #flexible work. With too many headlines about #RTO, it's easy to forget that 68% of all organizations have a flexible work policy, driven by leaders who know that purpose-driven time together works. Talent magnets, not policy pushers. Who am I missing?

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 14/12/2024

Good morning, San Francisco! #sf

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 06/12/2024

Spent the night sleeping on the floor next to this one, who had some minor surgery yesterday. She basically spent the night looking at me like this... "Why did you let this happen?" Within a few days, she'll just be ticked to be stuck in the "Cone of Shame"

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 05/12/2024

Love #SF sunrises in “winter”

Picture of clouds. Gradient from orange at base through grey to blue

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 04/12/2024

Data from CBRE shows the same thing, basically: office occupancy has gone up about 3 percentage points this year. That's good for teams. But it doesn't mean commercial real estate people are very happy. The future is flexible.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 04/12/2024

Policies aren't reality. Most firms I talk with see people coming in ~2 days a week on a 3 day a week policy. Not surprising: pre-pandemic the norm of 5 days a week meant ~3 days a week seats were occupied. Sales calls, vacation, illness, or already flexible We're flat at ~50% of pre-pandemic.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 04/12/2024

The not-so-great news for #RemoteWork fans is that 3 days a week policies are growing faster than anything else. Specific days of the week are down (i.e., telling everyone Monday, Tuesday and Thursday is the answer), but so is giving total employee choice.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 04/12/2024

Doesn't appear (yet) to be a lot of CEOs following Amazon and @washingtonpost.com back into offices 5 days a week. Latest from Flex Index shows that we're at stasis: 2/3rd of firms have some form of workplace flexibility that allows work from home at least a couple days a week

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 26/11/2024

If you look at big tech, it's not hard to spot a relationship: 🔴 10%+ laid off, multiple rounds of RTO mandates / reminders 🟠 ~5% laid off, already had hybrid policies 🟢 / 🟡 Apple: hybrid since early 2021, no layoffs, no changes 🟢 No layoffs, and maintained highly flexible work policies

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 25/11/2024

Fellow GenX'ers: we were once called slackers. Slew of articles and more comments recently about how #GenZ are all lazy, entitled and don't want to work hard. That they need to pay their dues. Just a reminder: the tropes of "kids these days" and "nobody wants to work hard anymore" go back forever.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 21/11/2024

OPM data shows that telework creates agencies that are more focused on customers, continual improvement and more resilient. Telework brings in vets, military spouses, people with disabilities and women; government workers closer to their constituents, as pointed out by Sen James Lankford (R-OK)

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 21/11/2024

Elon and Vivek want to drive out #federal workers. They'll get that and more: "A bland grey corporate hellscape filled with dead-eyed zombies who care about nothing more than doing the bare minimum, clocking off and collecting a paycheck.” That's from a Starling Bank employee in the UK, but fits.

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Brian Elliott @elliottsf.com · 20/11/2024

A lot of leader's management philosophy is stuck in the 1960s. "Management by walking around" came from the HP founders in the 1960s, popularized by Tom Peters in 1982, and gets used today to describe what's missing in #remote work. But it misses the point....

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