Remote Work Didn’t Fail. Leadership Did.
by Shane Murphy
July 11, 2025
Originally published at ShaneMurphy.com
In 1994, at the Columbus Public Library, I met a man who changed how I think about work – and life.
He was blind. In a wheelchair. He was working for a law firm in Columbus.
He had come to one of my talks about “the internet”. Yeah, I’m dating myself. I was traveling around central Ohio speaking about this brand-new thing called the “World Wide Web.”
I would get people’s attention, then charge them $100 to come to their house and set them up. Had a partnership with a local dial-up ISP and everything. They paid me like 25% of a yearly subscription as a referral fee. Not a bad side hustle.
Simpler times.
He asked if I’d come to his house and help him get online.
I went to his house, set up his PC, got him connected. And while I was installing software, he told me:
“You know, this is how it’s going to be one day. Everyone’s going to work this way.”
That was 31 years ago.
I Was Remote Before Remote Was Cool… and I Made it Work
In 1997, I started working remotely. It wasn’t glamorous. It was dial-up connections, clunky hardware, and a lot of improvisation. But I made it work. I delivered.
And I got consistent results.
By 2007, I was leading remote teams. Coaching people. Building programs. Managing deliverables and outcomes across time zones. I didn’t just work in remote environments – I built them.
And I did this work successfully for more than 20 years – 28 to be exact. Crazy when I think about it! Promotions, trust, performance reviews. And the receipts? Always there.
I didn’t start remote work because I had to. I did it because it made sense. It was effective. It worked.
On a very personal note, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1992. For the majority of my career, it’s had zero impact on my ability to work. And even today, it doesn’t stop me. But the reality is that MS is a progressive disease – and I’m no exception. The fact that I got into remote work early was serendipity. It’s positioned me to deliver at a high level, anywhere, under any condition. No matter what happens, as long as a company is willing to have me, I can do great things regardless of location.
But the tide is turning – and it’s turning the wrong direction. And as companies shift to in office only, I could very easily find myself boxed out by a dated, illogical mandate.
What’s Really Driving This “Return to Office” Push?
Let’s be honest. This Return to Office (RTO) madness?
It’s not about productivity. It’s not because remote workers failed. And unlike a lot of conventional chatter, I don’t think it has a ton to do with real estate.
I’m convinced that it’s because too many managers just don’t know (or don’t care to know) how to lead without eyeballs on seats. Because the systems they built were shallow. Because they don’t know how to build trust without proximity.
So now, instead of owning that, companies blame the model. And they paint people like me – and millions of others – as lazy, unaccountable, ice-cream-eating pajama workers.
Fortune just ran a piece titled: “Bosses are right: remote workers spend 2.5 fewer hours on the clock than their coworkers in the office.”
What clock? The one that says 4am when my MS-related insomnia won’t let me sleep, so I decide to work instead? That clock?
The article talks about “stealing time” and “on the clock” like we’re factory workers in 1956. It paints an entire work methodology that’s proven to deliver results using a few quotes from GenZ and Millennial workers making TikToks.
I’m a former freelance sportswriter. If I had submitted something as lazy as that Forbes piece, it wouldn’t have seen print. And I guarantee I wouldn’t have gotten another assignment from that publication again.
That wasn’t journalism. It’s clickbait content churned out to validate broken assumptions.
Because telling the full story would mean admitting this isn’t a remote work problem.
It’s a leadership problem.
When I was leading a large team of Performance Coaches, I didn’t track who logged in at 8:07am. I didn’t care if they worked exactly 40 hours every week. Or 8 hours per day.
All I really cared about were three simple things ↓
That’s it. Not some imaginary timecard. Not the smell of microwave popcorn and coffee breath in a shared breakroom.
Why do I still have to explain this in 2025?
That blind man I met in 1994? He saw the future more clearly than most executives do today. He understood that work is what you do, not where you sit.
Meanwhile, we’ve got people with perfect eyesight who can’t see a damn thing.
Blame Remote All You Want. But The Problem? It’s You.
We don’t work in factories anymore. People want remote work – and we have the tools to make it happen. What’s missing isn’t tech. It’s guts. Too many companies default to control instead of designing for trust.
That’s not a culture problem. It’s a leadership failure.
It’s time to stop hiding from remote work and start owning it. Build systems that reward output, not face time. Train managers to lead with clarity. Show people what good looks like – even when no one’s in the same room.
If you’re doing that work, I want to hear from you. This is just the start. I’ve got more to say and I’m looking for the builders. Message me or drop a comment.