Why leaders considering return-to-office mandates are asking the wrong question

The return-to-office debate has dominated business headlines for years now. Executives issue mandates. Employees push back. Back-and-forth headlines declare the death or revival of remote work. Rinse and repeat. While some are distracted by arguments about where people should sit, the world’s most competitive companies are doing something far more worthwhile: hiring the best people, wherever they are, and building genuinely distributed teams as a strategic advantage.