Julia Hobsbawm

The first book to define what social health means in the modern workplace, and the implications for individuals and society of being 'always on' in a hyper-connected world.

Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Overload

Fully Connected

From one of the foremost thinkers in business and organization, a deeply researched examination on the true future of work The world of work is shifting to become a Nowhere Office faster than anyone could imagine. The pandemic has accelerated shifts caused by increased automation and the 4th Industrial Revolution, and perhaps as much as one third of the world's permanent workforce will become remote-based; where offices as we know it will need to be repurposed for less and different kinds of occupancy; where the challenges of managing 'WFH' teams multiply, and where the idea of 'Purpose' itself - of meaningful work - begins to take center stage. This book takes the view that these changes are irreversible to some degree and yet should be broadly welcomed as a moment to improve on the failures of the workplace. The Nowhere Office is an analysis of this pivotal moment in the history of work. Julia Hobsbawm, a leading voice on the social health of businesses offers a strategic and practical guide, voicing the problems that beset work -the endemic stagnant productivity and stress crisis that predated the pandemic - and asks: isn't now the time to develop something better, something more meaningful, something more workable?

Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future

The Nowhere Office

What has changed in the workplace? Everything. The traditional office was probably doomed anyway. Then a global shutdown changed everything we thought we knew about work, including where and when it needed to take place. Automation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution have accelerated, and perhaps as much as one third of the world’s permanent workforce will soon become remote. In The Nowhere Office, Julia Hobsbawm offers a strategic and practical guide to navigating this pivotal moment in the history of work and provides lessons for how both employees and employers can adapt. Hobsbawm draws on her extensive networks in business, academia, and entrepreneurship across generations to offer new ideas about how to handle hybrid working, as well as provides deep insight into how the way we work is being transformed by larger issues such as community, hierarchy, bias, identity, and security. The Nowhere Office describes a unique moment in the history of work which, if understood and handled correctly, can provide a springboard for the biggest transformational change in the workplace for a century: something better, more meaningful, and more workable for everyone.

As remote working becomes the norm rather than the exception for many office workers around the globe, The Nowhere Office proposes a radical new way of thinking about work both now and in the future. Offering a strategic and practical guide to negotiating this pivotal moment in the history of work, The Nowhere Office addresses the problems which beset work - the endemic stagnant productivity and crisis of stress which predate the pandemic - and the new challenges of remote working, repurposing offices for more creative interaction, managing WFH teams and satisfying the demand for more purposeful work with greater work/life balance. Drawing on history, cutting-edge research and extensive interviews Julia Hobsbawm argues persuasively that now is the time to develop something better, more meaningful, and, crucially, more workable.

In a society where women and men are under constant pressure to juggles their commitments as partners, parents and workers, The See-Saw offers life-changing tips and case studies to inspire and reassure you that you can get your work-life balance on track. Julia Hobsbawm, who combines running a successful small business with being a multiple mother of three young children and two teenage step-children, shares her own personal experiences and provides case studies and advice from women and men with different backgrounds and circumstances. Everyone is facing the same challenges: How do I save time? How do I remain focused on work but not distracted at home? How do I relax? A challenging new handbook for 21st-century life, The See-Saw is bursting with hard-won practical advice.

100 Recipes for Work-Life Balance

The See-Saw

The relationship between the serious news media and the truth is under scrutiny as never before. In recent years the BBC and the New York Times have been knocked sideways by scandals alleging exaggeration and distortion. At the same time, the influence of the PR industry continues to expand, so that no organisation that is serious about communicating its message can be without a PR strategy. In a series of wide-ranging essays about public relations and journalism, Where the Truth Lies tackles head-on issues as diverse as the public role of PR, the reportage of crises and the role of 'new' media. It also includes Julia Hobsbawm's four point plan to remake the relationship between PR and journalism. Contributors include John Lloyd, Simon Jenkins, Peter Oborne, Mark Borkowski and Janine di Giovanni.

Where the Truth Lies

100 Ideas for Work-Life Balance

Shortlisted for the CMI's Management Book of the Year Award 2018 and the Business Book Awards 2018 Twenty-five years after the arrival of the Internet, we are drowning in data and deadlines. Humans and machines are in fully connected overdrive - and starting to become entwined as never before. Truly, it is an Age of Overload. We can never have imagined that absorbing so much information while trying to maintain a healthy balance in our personal and professional lives could feel so complex, dissatisfying and unproductive. Something is missing. That something, Julia Hobsbawm argues in this ground-breaking book, is Social Health, a new blueprint for modern connectedness. She begins with the premise that much of what we think about healthy ways to live have not been updated any more than have most post-war modern institutions, which are themselves also struggling in the twenty-first century. In 1946, the World Health Organization defined 'health' as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.' What we understood by 'social' in the middle of the last century now desperately needs an update. In Fully Connected Julia Hobsbawm takes us on a journey – often a personal one, 'from Telex to Twitter' – to illustrate how the answer to the Age of Overload can come from devising management-based systems which are both highly practical and yet intuitive, and which draw inspiration from the huge advances the world has made in tackling other kinds of health, specifically nutrition, exercise, and mental well-being. Drawing on the latest thinking in health and behavioural economics, social psychology, neuroscience, management and social network analysis, this book provides a cornucopia of case studies and ideas, to educate and inspire a new generation of managers, policymakers and anyone wanting to navigate through the rough seas of overload.

Modern life is complicated, much more so than it used to be. Acclaimed author and social entrepreneur, Julia Hobsbawm, shows you a simpler way. The Simplicity Principle challenges the assumption that all things that are complex have to stay that way. It helps keep things as lean, simple and focused as possible. Smartphone users experience concentration interruptions every 12 minutes of the day, there are over 250 billion emails sent every 24 hours and by 2021 the internet will have created more than 3.3 zettabytes of data. Yet complexity doesn't have to dominate, complicate or clutter our lives. Based on a hexagonal model, this book shows you that it's easy to streamline and simplify both your professional and personal lives with lessons based on the natural world. For anyone who feels that life can be too much, The Simplicity Principle will help you break free of the endless choices and complexities that we face in the world today. It's time to gain control of your focus and productivity, and most importantly, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Julia Hobsbawm

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