Plenty of people work from home occasionally, and plenty of managers work with people in different offices. But what if no one is in the office? What if your entire company consists of people working wherever they want to work?
That’s the reality for a growing number of companies that find central real estate unnecessary. Managing an entirely virtual team can be a challenge, but a few strategies make it quite possible, so you can reap the benefits of this new model.
“It is a big recruiting draw for the right type of person,” says Lisa Breytspraak Jasper, managing partner of IT strategy consulting firm Thought Ensemble, whose 13 employees are all virtual. “It allows us to lead our lives very flexibly”–and still get stuff done.
Here’s how to make it work:
1. Hire in hubs.
One upside of a virtual company is that you can hire people outside of commuting range. That said, just because you can draw talent from anywhere doesn’t mean you should. Felicia Rubinstein, founder of marketing and design firm 341 Studios, works with 16 people virtually. But they’re all relatively close to her Connecticut home base. “I like being in the same time zone,” she explains, and a one- to two-hour range makes in-person collaboration possible. Jasper casts a slightly broader geographical net, but still prefers to hire in clusters, including ones in Denver and Dallas.
She’ll hire superstars elsewhere–she recently pulled in someone in Ann Arbor, Michigan–but “we take a much harder look at someone in a city where we don’t have other people.” This makes travel more efficient.
2. Go for experienced hires.
Not everyone works well on her own. Jasper reports that “I interviewed some MBA interns recently, and they were flabbergasted: ‘Where would I work?’ So I gave up on that idea.” Instead, she prefers “relatively senior people who don’t need to be micromanaged.”
As a side note, as people get older, they may have family situations that make remote work appealing. “They’re appreciative of the flexibility and will go overboard to really work well for you,” says Rubinstein.
3. Build bonds creatively.
Getting people together for social events is great, but bonds arise from work structures too. “We move around between projects pretty fluidly,” Jasper says, and her employees spend roughly 20% to 30% of their time on client sites.
That means they’re getting to know different colleagues in person as they’re working. Rubinstein likewise reports that, “We have client meetings. Just because we’re virtual doesn’t mean we don’t see each other.”
4. Communicate frequently.
Thought Ensemble has company-wide meetings for 90 minutes every Tuesday. While recurring meetings may be overkill when everyone’s already in the office, they do help virtual companies stay connected. Just don’t assume you need to use fancy videoconferencing to mimic the in-person vibe.
Rubinstein reports that 341 Studios favors basic audio conferencing in part because people don’t want to get dressed up. “We tend to talk with each other when we’re walking our dogs,” she says. Since physical activity boosts creativity, that may be a better approach than forcing people to sit in front of a camera.
5. Measure on results.
Managing a virtual team requires letting go of the idea that being at a desk for a certain number of hours constitutes working. Jasper has no limit on vacation or sick days–but partners are responsible for a certain volume of sales, and more junior people are responsible for specific deliverables.
If you get it done, how you got it done doesn’t really matter. “We do actually track hours for client type work because we want to see how long it’s taking us,” Jasper says, but it’s an internal metric to make sure projects are profitable. “We don’t manage our company based on that.”

The Whitney Museum’s director, Adam Weinberg, is cool with you taking selfies in front of the art on display.
“I think a lot of people’s instinct is to photograph what’s there often before they even [look at it closely],” he said during a Q&A at the Miami Beach Edition. “I think that’s OK. I think every generation has a different way of doing it.”
Weinberg added, “If people are photographing or doing other things in the gallery, I think it’s absolutely fine, because museums shouldn’t be necessarily cloisters that are separated.”
He said of the Whitney’s new Renzo Piano-designed home at the High Line, “There are wonderful cloister-like museums, but the Whitney Museum is about the present.”

Source: www.pagesix.com

Alexander Pereira, La Scala’s new general manager, is confident that a rarely seen major work by Verdi will silence his traditionalist critics
The general manager of La Scala has said he is confident that a rarely seen operatic masterpiece by Verdi can silence the hecklers he has sought to banish, as the world’s most famous opera house readies for its celebrated gala, the first night of the season.
Before taking the reins at the Milan theatre last year, Alexander Pereira did not hold back in his disdain for the so-called loggionisti, whose traditionalist scruples and booing have seen a string of performers vow to never return.
“I have at my [disposal] the best [singers] but many do not want to perform on the stage at La Scala because they are intimidated, if not frightened to death,” he lamented. “We can no longer allow this.”
Having completed his first – successful – season at La Scala, Pereira has said he will not be put off by the merciless traditionalists who often make their voices heard from the gods on the first night of big productions, such as Monday night’s upcoming performance of Verdi’s Joan of Arc (Giovanna d’Arco).
“You are always concerned that it might happen, but the concern doesn’t hold you back from doing what you think is right,” he told the Guardian. “I think this is an interesting production and I think it is an important contribution by La Scala to a major work by Verdi which is practically never done.”
Source: www.theguardian.com