September 30, 2025
Rethinking Return-to-OfficeReturn-to-office mandates miss the point. Discover why hybrid will become the new default and how leaders can design it for culture, retention, and results.
.png)
The rise of AI is generating a fascinating dichotomy about the future of work and a crossroads for leadership where leaders may move in one of two ways.
A less collaborative future where AI rules, or one that embrace the very fundamentals of human nature increasing collaborating and improving the very fabic of the societies we live in.
On one hand, AI seems to reduce the need for human collaboration. I’ve alarmingly heard leaders say: “Let's get AI to generate all the requirements and plan, so we can just focus on the work”, or even Engineering leaders that say to their product teammates: "I just need you to write better requirements documents about exactly what we need, so that the AI can build the code automatically all the time".
But this mindset throws decades of research about transformational leadership and approaches like intent-based leadership out the window.
Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said
"Plans are worthless, but planning is indispensable"
The act of planning is about building alignment around multiple perspectives and views, not about the plan itself.
AI often presents the highest-probability answer as if it is the one right answer. The one right plan.
But humans, on the other hand, naturally challenge ideas, explore alternatives views, and bring their diverse perspectives to the table.
The way AI frames information risks driving teams down seemingly “likely” paths, even if they may turn out to be fundamentally wrong.
Intent-based leadership shows us something important about human nature. Humans interpret any piece of information differently. The act of planning is a collaborative exercise of building alignment between different parties.
The fallacy of the “perfect plan” doesn’t disappear with AI - in fact, AI exacerbates it. AI-generated plans create the illusion of clarity, but hide the human divergence in interpretation. The danger of AI-generated “perfect plans” isn’t only that teams may fail to challenge them. It’s the false sense of alignment it creates.
In times of hyper-change like today, we don’t need less collaboration - we need more.
The danger is falling into the trap of outsourcing to AI the very activities that are innately human:
Humans often don’t know what they want until they see it. That’s why the iterative process and prototypes matter so much.
The rise of AI actually creates newer more effective ways for humans to explore new ideas. AI can, and should, generate multiple possibilities of every idea we create. While we sleep AI can create 10 versions of an idea, that we have discussed and planned.
But those 10 versions aren’t the end of the story. They’re just the beginning. It’s the human review, debate and refinement that will help evolve these possibilities into the real ideas that will drive real progress.
Modern leadership is at a precipice. We stand at an important crossroads:
This doesn’t mean we should ignore AI.
Quite the opposite.
AI is essential. It helps us remove the grunt work - the leg work that slows humans down.
Market research? We shouldn't be wasting hours googling. Let AI surface real-time insights from across the web.
Product reviews? Don't waste time clicking between screens pulling data about your product. Use AI to highlight and map the state of your product and highlight new technologies that could help you improve.
But what must remain human, is the interpretation, discussion, and debate that drives true accountability, creativity and exploration of what the future can hold.
So how do we design a future where humans and AIs collaborate seamlessly?
At Berst, we believe the answer lies in virtual offices - spaces purpose-built for collaboration. Ones where humans and AI can co-exist in real time.
Imagine:
These offices won’t replace human collaboration. They’ll supercharge it - combining the best of humanity with the speed and scale of AI.
AI doesn’t eliminate the need for leadership. It makes leadership more important.
Leadership is not about generating the perfect plan. It’s about creating the conditions for humans to collaborate, challenge, and evolve ideas - now with AI as a partner.
The organisations that embrace this shift and design digital spaces where humans and AI collaborate naturally will be the ones that thrive.
This is the leadership precipice — the decision point between two futures.
📘 Learn more about designing your Virtual Office for the future in our free ebook The Remote Work Formula
Return-to-office mandates miss the point. Discover why hybrid will become the new default and how leaders can design it for culture, retention, and results.
Discover why the future of work will bring humans and AI teammates together in virtual offices. Learn how conversational AI and digital presence are reshaping collaboration, leadership, and workplace
How leaders can stay visible, approachable, and human in an increasingly digital workplace
Culture doesn’t grow by accident. Neither does connection. In physical offices, they emerge from architecture, rhythm, and proximity—none of which translate automatically into remote environments.
Launching The Remote Work Formula — A Guide for the Modern Workplace
Virtual offices are enabling new ways of interacting. Berst allows you to peek through the window, shout out to everyone in the office and check who has been speaking to encourage inclusion.
The magic of a physical office happens between the meetings, not in them. A virtual office like Berst enables you to create this same magic, simply and intuitively. These 3 tips help you do just that.
Remote working is enabling a new way of learning, the ability to leverage shared, recorded video content, but then to focus on the discussion in the room are enabling a new way of working.
Taking a tutoring business online is simple with a modern virtual office like Berst. With a easily accessible virtual office you can work just like you do in person, but virtually.
Berst is a simple and intuitive virtual office, setup to be the most accessible possible for team members of all cultures, ages or dominations. Accessed from your browser, you can get setup tomorrow.
High Empathy is the key to creating an effective working agreement that helps Distributed Teams succeed. This guide with help you with a step by step approach for doing this.
Berst's Virtual Office is perfectly setup to overcome "Zoom Fatigue". If you are looking to enable a highly engaged remote first workforce, Berst's Virtual Office is designed to help.
Creating context is a critical element for designing effective virtual workspaces. Virtual Offices like Berst can enable you to create radical transparency by connecting your context with rooms.
Some facilitation approaches like Ritual Dissent are perfect for high performance teams, as it create the space of high quality feedback. Virtual Offices make this even simpler to run.
Contrary to the common advice, it is possible to align multiple teams around OKRs. When using a virtual office you, don't require physical rooms or movement so you can just focus on aligning.
The watercooler moment is one of the things that people feel has been lost in remote working environment, but Everest Engineering use Berst's virtual office to solve this and feel connected as a team.
Low engagement events is the real killer in virtual working environments. These 3 approaches help build engagement while working in virtual or hybrid events.
Culture codes help set clear expectations about how people work and act. In distributed working environment this can be a key factors in the difference between high and mediocre performance.
Empathy is the key to building an inclusive team, especially in distributed teams when you can't rely on proximity. These 3 simple approaches can help you get off on the right foot.
Effective planning in Agile, allows teams to rapidly make decisions based on all readily available information to create an effective plan. This simple approach helps you do exactly that.
Organisations typically approach creating team alignment by setting and sharing a company vision. But this often falls flat. A Strategy Back-brief enables organisations to bridge the execution gap.