Week 22, 2026

James Crane shared a reel detailing how we’re watching the rise of ‘the personality economy’ in real time.

The shift? "people are following identities, perspectives, energy, taste, humor, and worldview just as much as products or companies themselves." The coworking connection? You, your team, and how you engage online and IRL, are increasingly front and center.

Thanks to FLOC for sharing this link.

Amanda Perry posted about a frustrating day at a coworking space where noise, eating at desks, and no quiet alternatives made it nearly unusable, pointing out that around 55% of business owners identify as neurodivergent.

It hit a nerve, sparking 170+ comments. Commenters including Danielle Wallington of flockhere, Stephen Phillips of Neighbors & Nomads, and Paul Nellist of Koba noted that simple zoning (quiet rooms, call booths, social areas) already works where it’s being done intentionally. BUT a lot of other commenters also shared that they found similarly frustrating setups (or lack thereof) at their local hubs.

Andrew Runnette at Biz Ops Studio lays out a structural shift: companies are quietly dropping entry-level hires (junior dev postings down 53% per Indeed, per research from Erik Brynjolfsson’s lab at Stanford) while ramping up spending on fractional executives, now a $5.7B market growing 14% annually according to Vendux.

The new org shape is a small core team (see HI-C’s), with AI agents handling junior work, and senior fractional leaders or forward-deployed engineers brought in for specific needs.

The practical warning: if the entry-level pipeline dries up, there won’t be enough experienced senior talent to fill fractional roles in a decade, so companies and operators should start deliberately designing for this new shape now instead of defaulting to old hiring patterns.

Most coworking spaces have rooms sitting empty at predictable times. This week Cobot explores what happens when you open those hours to non-members.

The catch? Many of them don’t know your space exists. Someone searching "podcast studio near me" probably isn’t thinking about coworking. Rosee shows how to change that. Part one of a two-part series on growing external bookings.

After Lauren Walker of Coworks teamed with Jerome Chang and Jackie LaTragna for February’s event, why did Amanda Lewan at Bamboo raise her hand for hosting this August?

The reason is simple: because it matters. Community-builders need community and nobody understand what operators are doing like OTHER operators.

While business rates were the biggest pain to UK operators in the room, the workshops provided food for thought. Jane Robathan from Nexudus attended her first Unreasonable Connection and thanks by Bernie Mitchell for bringing impactful routes to the good kinds of growth.

Grace Wood, new Marketing Manager at Beflex, shares an observation from her short time in the flex workspace industry: top office spaces are starting to feel less like property brands and more like hospitality and culture brands.

We’ve talked about this umpteen times in the newsletter, but if new hires at this workspace comparison platform are noticing this shift in their first month in the industry – that means something…

Carlos Ballesteros recapped day one of the 2026 Coworking Spain Conference in Barcelona, noting the market is maturing, with projects like Aticco‘s 20k sqm space showing real scale alongside smaller operators with very different realities.

Key takeaways include management agreements between operators and landlords gaining traction in Spain, a growing connection with Latin America, and AI showing up more across marketing, sales, and onboarding. The event brought together 15 years of community, with Manuel Zea Barral, Marc Navarro, and Laura Martin Nicolas among those who made it happen.