Page 11 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

viii � IntroduCtIon

` the BAgel FACtor

Like many successful collaborations, ours started while breaking bread
together. We (the authors, David Clemons and Michael Kroth) had
just coasted in from a beautiful mountain bike ride to Blue Sky Bagels
on the corner of Fourth and Main in Boise, Idaho. David ordered his
classic asiago bagel with no butter, and Michael his blueberry bagel
with way too much butter. Then, what we have come to call “the bagel
factor” came into play.
“The bagel factor” occurs when otherwise mobile workers meet
face to face, often over dinner or during some social function but also
during professional meetings, and the magic of relationship occurs.
As we’ll find later in this book, most mobile workforce leaders still
believe that regular face-to-face meetings are essential for building a
strong connection with their virtual workforce. In our case, the idea
of writing a book together emerged after about half a bagel apiece.
David has provided leadership in digital content and digital learn-
ing since 1990. He is recognized within the CD-ROM and online
learning industries as being a successful entrepreneur and innova-
tor for many years. He is the president of LearnKey, Inc., and the
founder of Achieve Labs Inc., (LearnCast.com and Push Mobile Me-
dia) which are focused on mobile workforce strategy and educational
delivery platforms.
At the beginning, Michael knew almost nothing about mobile
technology. (One of his early questions was, “What’s an SMS text?”)
He had been an organizational consultant for many years and an au-
thor of three books. As a professor in the field of human resource
development he had both practical and scholarly experience. He was
interested in how leaders would be able to create healthy, highly moti-
vating work environments for this newly emerging mobile workforce.
The possibility for synergy, combining our two sets of comple-
mentary experiences and knowledge, and writing a book together
about managing the mobile workforce, was born over a bike ride and
two bagels.