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I’m standing in a cafe that could easily pass for a co-working space — people plugged into laptops, headphones on, latte foam art as intricate as their latest pitch decks. It’s 11 a.m. somewhere, and the world is working, thinking, creating. But are they really collaborating? Or just floating in their own digital lifeboats, hoping the Wi-Fi holds?

Let’s not kid ourselves. Creativity isn’t a one-man show. It’s messy, tangled, and human. It’s the jazz riff that builds because someone’s tapping the bass line in the corner. It’s the mural that emerges when everyone’s got a brush in hand, smudging the colors, making something unexpected. That’s the ideal, isn’t it? Everyone in the room, a whiteboard filling up like a fever dream. Energy, friction, magic.

But then you look around. Remote work isn’t a trend anymore; it’s the way the world spins now. A Slack notification is the new “pop into my office.” Zoom boxes are the new conference tables. And let’s be honest — not everyone wants to trade their sweatpants for a badge and commute. Who can blame them? The rules of work have shifted, and with them, the way we create.

So, which is it? Does the muse prefer an open-plan office with free snacks, or is she happier visiting you at home, where you’re barefoot and working at 2 a.m.?

Here’s the rub: Creativity is chaos. And chaos can’t always be boxed into a 9-to-5 or a single location. Remote work works because it gives people space. Space to think. Space to breathe. Space to pick up their kids, walk their dog, or just stare into the void for a while. Sometimes, the best ideas happen when you’re far away from the noise.

But…there’s an undeniable pulse to being in the same room. A kind of telepathy that happens when you catch someone’s eye mid-sentence, or when a random “What if we tried this?” idea sparks a chain reaction. There’s heat in the moment, and you can’t replicate it over a Google Doc.

The truth is, it’s not an either-or. The best creative work happens when you embrace both. Give people the freedom to disappear into their own corners of the world, to find inspiration in their unique, messy lives. But create moments to come together — in person, if you can — to light the fire, to build the kind of trust that pixels can’t convey.

Because at the end of the day, whether you’re holed up in your bedroom office or bouncing ideas off a whiteboard, creativity thrives on connection. Connection to ideas. Connection to people. Connection to something bigger than the task at hand.

So, do remote employees make for better creative teams? The answer, like all good answers, is maddeningly simple: It depends. On the people, the project, the moment. Creativity is fluid, elusive, a little bit stubborn. It doesn’t care where you are, as long as you show up — fully, authentically, messily.

Just don’t forget to mute yourself before you yell at the cat.