Interlude // Agate turns 2(!)

"It's the most joy" - Mike Birbiglia

Two years ago today, on a rainy day in Washington, D.C., in the back of an auditorium at the Axios What’s Next Summit, I filed the online paperwork to create the future of work consulting studio at the heart of my one-woman operation, Agate. The name was inspired by a recent trip to Joshua Tree National Park and the crystals and local stones I brought back to Brooklyn. (Some people like t-shirts and hats; I like rocks. 🤷🏻‍♀️) Among them was an agate geode with red, brown, orange, and clear bands.

Regardless of where you land on the woo-woo spectrum, agates are undeniably cool. Over millennia, these stones formed in hollow pockets of ancient volcanic rock, and each variation in color, pattern, and texture was formed over thousands—sometimes millions—of years. It’s humbling to consider what was playing out on Earth while these bands of rock and sediment were forming. On the more spiritually adventurous end of things, agate spiritual properties include encouraging a broader perspective, calming worries and stress, and analyzing information to take steps into the future. I chose the name Agate for my consulting studio because it perfectly embodies the dynamic and sustainable path I envision for the future of work, acknowledging the past and offering a unique perspective for everyone involved.

In these two years, I’ve worked with companies to develop their flexible workplace strategies, focusing on how companies support the work their employees do and making return-to-office mandates a thing of the past. I’ve designed activity-based workplaces that support hybrid and remote-first workforces, ensuring that the environments, tools, and experiences teams need are available when they need them. I’ve facilitated workshops for innovative workplace and real estate teams, establishing success metrics and continuous improvement methodologies that keep them accountable to their employees. I’ve helped proptech startups in their infancy establish their mission, purpose, and operating principles to launch new ideas into the industry and challenge us to grow and evolve. I’ve researched productivity, experience, and effectiveness and developed product offerings that help small teams and large organizations cycle through change faster than typical transformations allow. I started this newsletter. And I am close to finishing a book with my friend Sara, but more on that another day.

Even after reading this list of things I’ve been working on since founding Agate, the past two years have felt like a blur of little victories, hiccups, surprises, and losses, which—as far as I can tell—is the quintessential founder/entrepreneur experience. I wouldn’t trade it, nor the unending list of things I want to do to make Agate as good as it can be to leave the future of work, workplace strategy, employee experience, and everything in between better than how I found it.

Thanks for being here. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly. 😎