Where Do I Work? Building the Company We Wished Existed
Reading about building companies of the future, I came across this quote that perfectly captures what work should be:
"In an enlightened, forward-thinking company, managers understand the connection between learning, innovation, and high productivity, and convert it into a company where employees are motivated to use part of their time learning and experimenting with new technologies."
— Joe McKendrick, FASTForward
The Company That Should Exist
If you're in technology, project management, executive leadership, healthcare, or any other field I can think of, you should work in a company like this. And if such a company doesn't exist in your industry, you should create it.
I'm fortunate to work at 3Metas.
(Such a company didn't exist in our industry, so we built it from scratch.)
What Makes This Type of Company Different?
Learning is Built Into the Culture
Time for learning and experimentation isn't a perk—it's part of the job. The company recognizes that staying current with technology directly impacts productivity and innovation.
Managers Understand the Connection
Leadership sees the direct link between employee development and business outcomes. They don't view learning time as "unproductive"—they see it as essential investment in competitive advantage.
Forward-Thinking by Design
The company doesn't just react to market changes—it anticipates them by keeping the team engaged with emerging technologies and methodologies.
Building What Didn't Exist
When we looked around our industry in 2009, we didn't see companies structured this way. Traditional software companies focused on billable hours, not learning hours. Innovation happened despite the structure, not because of it.
So we built 3Metas from the ground up with these principles baked in. Not as aspirational values on a wall, but as operational reality in how we allocate time, measure success, and grow the business.
Modern Context: The Remote Work Revolution
Looking back from 2025, this post was written at an inflection point:
- •2009: Remote work was rare, learning time even rarer
- •2020 COVID: Forced remote work experiment proved it works
- •2025: Hybrid and remote are standard; learning budgets are competitive differentiators
- •Tech companies: 20% time (Google), hack weeks (Facebook), continuous learning platforms
- •AI acceleration: Learning speed now critical competitive advantage
What was radical in 2009—employees learning on company time, working from anywhere—became mainstream by 2025. Companies that embraced this early had a 15-year head start building the culture and systems to make it work.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
In 2025, the pace of technological change makes continuous learning non-negotiable:
- •New frameworks emerge monthly, not yearly
- •AI tools reshape workflows every quarter
- •Best practices from last year become anti-patterns
- •Companies without learning culture fall behind fast
The Choice
You have two options:
1. Find a company that values learning, innovation, and treating employees as
partners in growth rather than resources to be optimized.
2. Build that company if it doesn't exist in your space.
We chose option two in 2009. Looking back, it was the best decision we made—not just for business outcomes, but for the kind of work environment we wanted to spend our careers building.