MacBook and Starbucks Coffee – are Digital N… leading us into the future of work?

What does your future work look like? If you’re sitting in Starbucks sipping your moccaccino, working on Podio (where else?) on your new mac book, you might perfectly fit in a digital something cliché. Some people would call you a digital bohemian, nomad or maybe native if you’re in your teens or younger. I heard a German newspaper recently wrote why digital nomads wouldn’t exist.

Do they? Don’t they? And if they do, what does it mean to them and the ones who are not part of this digital generation in a work context?

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening to an abstract outlook into the future of work. Wolfgang Wopperer shared a few theses on emerging new forms of working. He is also co-founder of the betahaus where my colleague Gustav and I were warmly welcomed for a workshop and this evening event. The betahaus represents one of these new forms of working: as a coworking space it gives the growing number  of digital natives or nomads a physical place to connect face to face, and share their work – either just for a day, some weeks, or months.

Although I didn’t hear that much new, I enjoyed relating some parts of his talk to my following presentation of Podio. Empowerment, self-destiny, and sharing are definitely foundations of Podio. I truly appreciate the way it lets me create my own flexible workflows and engage with the rest of the amazing team in a meaningful and productive way. Then again, I might be biased.

How does the non-digital generation react to these driving forces of self-empowerment, sharing, and transparency at work? With fear and resilience, I was told. Overcoming the widening gap of expectations and beliefs in a working place will likely be one of the key challenges, especially at larger companies. How should a 45-year old CMO react when being told by the 21-year old intern that his social media strategy is a total fail? It was a great experience meeting all these people, from one-man freelancing armies to representatives of 300,000+ employee companies, and hearing their stories. Hamburg is a great city, we’ll see you again! And I’m already excited about what Berlin will be like today, as we continue the Podio World Tour

By the way, I would never call myself any of these digital somethings. Also, I would never go to Starbucks, and haven’t bought a Mac yet. Tell us: what are the new trends?