Frederick Pilot is the author of Last Rush Hour: The Decentralization of Knowledge Work in the Twenty-First Century (second edition, 2019), which describes the transition from centralized commuter offices to ICT-enabled decentralized knowledge work and its implications for management, residential settlement patterns, and infrastructure. The book was inspired by Dave Rolston’s 2013 work Four Dead Kings at Work, which framed the decentralization of knowledge work as the collapse of the Industrial Age model of employment.
Through the Last Rush Hour platform, Pilot has built a sustained body of analysis on the virtualization and decentralization of knowledge work since at least 2015. His published work covers RTO conflict and the economics of office presence, organizational responses to ICT-driven work transformation, the relationship between commuting costs and talent retention, management culture and Theory X / Theory Y paradigms in knowledge organizations, and the implications of AI for the structure and organization of knowledge work.
As principal consultant, Pilot advises knowledge organizations on navigating the transition from commute-centered office operations to purpose-driven, ICT-enabled, AI-aware operating models.
Speaking and podcasting
Pilot has produced and hosted a series of podcast conversations with leading figures in the future of work, including:
- Jack Nilles, who coined the term “telecommuting”
- Nicola Millard, head of Customer Insight and Futures at BT Global
- Mika Cross, federal workplace policy strategist
- Kate Lister, president of Global Workplace Analytics
- Alison Maitland and Peter Thomson, authors of Future Work
- Geoff McLennan, former California state government telework leader
- Laurent Dhollande, CEO of Pacific Workplaces
- Michael Shear, on distributed office spaces
He is available to speak to organizations on the decentralization of knowledge work, talent attraction and retention in the context of return-to-office policies, rising real estate and commuting costs, and employee wellness.
Book
Last Rush Hour: The Decentralization of Knowledge Work in the Twenty-First Century (second edition) is available at the Amazon Kindle Store. The book is directed at knowledge workers, business leaders, elected officials, and urban and regional planners.
Schedule a consultation
To discuss how Last Rush Hour can help your organization navigate the future of knowledge work, email: