The Third Place, and What It Means For Your Career Development
The Third Place, and What It Means For Your Career Development
How The Third Place Impacts The Future of Work and Your Career
In the 1980’s, sociologist Ray Oldenburg came up with the concept of the “third place.” Oldenburg suggested that for a healthy existence, citizens should live in a balance of three kingdoms: life at home, workplace, and social places. The latter would be the third place.
In Oldenburg’s theory, while work is a formal and structured social experience and home is a private experience, the third place is more relaxed environments. Environments where people feel comfortable and return to again and again to socialize and enjoy the company of acquaintances and strangers.
A good third place is full of conversation and generates spontaneous relationships between people from different social and economic backgrounds – it is essential in building strong communities, creating empathy, and maintaining a vision of yourself as part of something bigger.
Starbucks and the Third Place
Howard Schultz, The Founder and Former CEO of Starbucks ran with the idea of the “third place.” designing the company as well as Starbucks Stores to be the “third place” for customers. For Starbucks, especially as it scaled to be a giant corporation, the third place concept was a mindset as much as an operational blueprint for their stories, to make them seen as a local coffee shop to attract loyal customers. And judging from Starbucks size, scale and brand, it worked. But as time has evolved, so too has Starbucks, and the idea behind the first, second and third place.
For fairly obvious reasons, most of what we think as the third place has evolved significantly during the past two years of a global pandemic. But what’s not so obvious but important to note, is that this change was already happening prior to a global pandemic, and like many other things, a global pandemic accelerated and transformed it in new ways.
Case in point: Starbucks has had to evolve its own thoughts on their third place mantra over the years. And many traditional third places (ex: churches) have seen declining interest and participation for decades. Finally new types of third places (ex: Yoga Studios, Soulcycle, Rock Climbing Walls, Co-working spaces and Peloton) did not exist when Oldenberg coined the phrase.
Third Place and COVID-19
When the pandemic first hit, third places for most of us were not an option. But as the pandemic went on, many of those third places had to adapt and evolve, with some people returning and others not.
Part of that had to do with the fact that many of us were also struggling to figure out how to reimagine our first and second places (home and work) and many of us are still struggling and managing through this challenge.
What happens when your first and second place are the same? How do you even conceptualize work-life balance when you don’t have a third place to go to? As social beings, having outlets and opportunities to socialize is important to our overall well-being, but something we all struggle with.
It’s often been said that the global pandemic gave us all a chance to re-evaluate our lives, including our first, second, and third places. But as the pandemic has evolved and we enter the next stage, some of the longstanding questions about our work and career are coming front and center.
Does Career Development Only Happen in The Office?
As more companies start to formalize their workplace plans and more individuals start coming physically into offices who had previously worked from home, the media (NY Times, BBC, CNBC, Business Insider, The NY Times Again ) has started to write a series of articles around the impact of working from home on employees’ career development, with a special attention to employees who are early in their career.
The general narrative with all of these articles suggests that if employees want career development, mentorship, or to advance in their career, they should be in the office, because that is where those things happen, and when you’re not in the office, you may not get access to those benefits.
To be sure, some of the writers and leaders quoted in the article caution leaders and companies about the dangers of this approach, highlighting that exclusivity and ineffective management are not reasons to suggest people need to come to the office to work or grow their careers.
As Hubspot Chief People Officer Katie Burke said,
“‘I just prefer when I can see people on my team’ — that is not a good business reason,”
(For a less charitable, but thoughtful, honest and insightful take on this, please check out Ed Zittron’s work)
But to suggest that mentorship, career advancement and promotion for employees was happening in-person in the office also falls short. Employers have for decades struggled with providing career opportunities to their employees, and employees have been complaining about managers and leaders who didn’t provide opportunities for learning and growth.
This is not to say that the ability to learn from your peers or mentors, getting expert advice on how to solve a problem, or meeting like-minded individuals who share your personal and professional interests didn’t happen when we were in the office - Most of us have examples of that. But to suggest that all of those things only happen when you’re physically in-person stands on shaky grounds.
Which leads us back to the idea of the third place.
The Third Place, and The Opportunity For Career Development
When the pandemic first hit, third places for most of us were an afterthought. But as the pandemic went on, many of us realized that when your first and second place are one and the same, you need other ways to find some of the things that we as humans seek to thrive, such as connection, engagement, and socialization.
But just how there was a blurring of boundaries between the first and second places (work and life) the concept of the third place, is also transforming, in terms of how we think about finding other social outlets and environments to relax, connect and engage with the outside world. Online communities, for example, have long been viewed as an option for a third place, as they allow people to socialize and engage with others.
With the rise of digital-first associations, social media platforms that allow for direct engagement+connection, bottoms up communities, co-working spaces, web3 communities, and brands who built communities that offer virtual and in-person connection, the idea of the third place concept has significantly transformed.
To be sure, in interviews Oldenburg doesn’t seem to think that online communities can be the same as traditional in-person “third place” concepts. And reading between the lines here, I don’t think he ever imagined a third space sponsored by Brand x.
But much like the black and white view argument of “career development happens in the office,” if we strip out the idea of third places being physical versus virtual, and just look at the utility and value, as well as the problems that these third places solve, you can start to see the elements that provide people with positive benefits.
Since many third places have qualities in them that sit at the intersection of work and life, they present an opportunity for individuals to develop and grow personally, which can correlate with professional and career growth.
This leads us back to the question of whether you need to be in the office to get promoted and advance your career. As I’ve written about previously, now is the best time to rethink our own personal what, why and how for work, and how it relates to the path we want to take to advance our career.
Career advancement comes down to three things: expertise, experiences and relationships. If you accept that premise, and understand the value and benefits of what the third place provides, you can begin to look for opportunities for career development, outside of just thinking that it happens in your office (whether that's your home, or in an office) and regardless of what your company thinks or what their policy is. Understanding the concept of the third place, and intentionally and proactively managing your career is possible, here’s how
Start With Defining With What You Need With Your Life - As a career driven professional, one of my long held beliefs is that your job and career are still within the context of your life. And no matter how driven and hardworking you are about your career, if you don’t take care of your life, you’ll inevitably suffer in your career. Start first by defining for yourself what you need in order to feel engaged, happy, or fulfilled in your life.
For example, as someone who has moved to 5 different cities during my 20s and 30s, one important lesson I learned to feel happy and alive, I would need community and friends who shared similar interests outside of work.
This baseline, was always a priority and every time I moved, I always kept a list of ways in which I was actively looking for that wherever I was. Now, as an entrepreneur who doesn’t get a lot of connections during the day, I actively search for this through other 3rd places, especially communities of other entrepreneurs who are looking to trade stories or share best practices.
Look For Companies and Tools You Engage With Regularly - A huge component of connecting with people is sharing common interests and connections. One way to find this, is to connect with the people who not only have a similar job as you, but who literally use the same tools and brands you do.
A great example of this comes from my former employer Salesforce. I don’t think Salesforce ever set out to be considered into the “3rd place” equation, but in many ways, it unconventionally fits the bill for being a modern day third place. If you are a Salesforce customer or user, chances are, you know something about Dreamforce (the yearly conference) Trailhead (the learning and career platform) and the Trailblazer Community (an online community to learn with other Salesforce users.)
You may also know about the in-person Salesforce Meetups that happen across the world, both in-person and virtually. They literally are creating physical and virtual spaces, for like minded people to socialize, connect, build relationships, unlock opportunities, and cultivate their careers.
The people who participate in these events are examples of individuals who have found their third place. People like Aaron McGriff, and Zac Otero literally transformed their personal and professional lives because of Salesforce. Salesforce MVPs like Tom Hoffman who share their knowledge with the community by speaking at events online and in-person, and volunteer their time with other Salesforce professionals to advance the profession have built connections, career, and capital through this third place.
Another example of this would be Professional Development organizations like the Product Marketing Alliance, OnDeck and Reforge, where people go, to learn, to connect and to find career opportunities with people who share the same interest and backgrounds. It’s not a surprise that each of these has received some sort of VC or PE funding over the past few years.
Find Out How Mentors and Guides Engage and Spend Their Time - If you’ve thought intentionally about where you think you want to go in your career, chances are you probably have an idea in mind of the people who are in roles or on paths that you could see yourself in or pursuing. Chances are, you’re probably already trying to build a relationship with them, and if you do, ask them about what they read, where they get their information, and what other third places they connect with others in. While not everything they do will apply to you, chances are some of them might.
Create Your Own Third Place - Sometimes you can find your own third place, so you need to start your own. During the early days of COVID-19 when recruiting and hiring was uncertain, a number of individuals took it upon themselves to start their own third places to help like minded peers.
Two examples of this are Grace Yeung (Product Buds) and Joseph Choi (TechPod) - I’ve written about both of them previously, but each built their own online community (reaching thousands of other students and early career professionals) to collaborate in the job search but also to support each other as each of them was dealing with the impact of COVID-19. As a result of technology, it’s never been easier to start your own third place.
My friend’s Diego and Felix have created the PM Mastermind community to bring together thousands of Product Managers, whereas Nick deWilde has created his own Web3 Community for other individuals who are curious about web3.
My aspirational hope for the future of work is that it allows more people to find better ways to work, and to make work “work for them.” Whether you work for a company that believes you need to be in the office to advance your career, or want to work from home, I think understanding the concept of the third place opens you up to more ways to make your work work for you.
Thank You For Reading. If you’re exploring ways to advance your career outside of the workplace, I’d love to hear how!
Further Reading