One of my favorite debates to have with other founders is whether you can build a company without an in-office mandate. The further we get from COVID-19 flexibility, the more some leaders seem to long for the days when they could see everyone working. Seats were filled, conference rooms were buzzing and calendars were stacked. On the surface, this looked and felt like progress.
That mindset comes from a belief that visibility equals productivity. If people are sitting at their desks, they must be getting things done. To borrow from several familiar Utah industries, the more doors you knock, the more deals you close. We’re a culture built on hard work and long hours. If we can count the inputs, we assume the outcomes will follow.
This mindset overlooks a significant portion of the Utah workforce, particularly working moms who hold this state together with their ambition and flexibility. If we want to sustain the nation’s fastest-growing economy, we must stop glorifying hours in the office and start rewarding impact.
I understand why this mindset is sticky. I went to high school in Utah, and my dad was a big believer in putting in the hours. When I worked for him, he invented projects to ensure we logged enough time. Like many Utahns, I spent two years as a missionary knocking on doors and tracking every input. The combination of these experiences resulted in me believing more hours equaled better results.
Building Campfire, a leadership development company, changed that. In our early days, I glorified 80-hour weeks and found ways to incentivize weekend work. Then one of my co-founders started having children. She has had three kids while raising over $4 million in capital and serving hundreds of clients. Watching her showed me what outcomes-driven leadership looks like.
She doesn’t organize her work around hours. She organizes it around impact. She relies on efficiency, deep focus, asynchronous collaboration and shifting between roles seamlessly. Flexibility isn’t a perk for her. It’s the main thing that allows her to do meaningful work.
Our customers reflect this, too. At Campfire, 85 percent of our buyers are women, many of whom are raising children while leading teams. Most chose employers who offer flexibility. Many of them share the same hope that one of our customers — who prefers to remain anonymous — illustrates:
“I wish they would just trust me to get the outcomes they need. I would give so much more if I had the flexibility to show up as a professional and as a mother in the way I need to.”
Most of Utah’s talent does not fit into a 9-5, office-bound model. Our management practices need to catch up. Outcome-based, flexible work isn’t a concession; it’s an economic strategy. And if we want Utah to continue thriving, we must design workplaces around results — not visibility.