It’s been nearly 18 months since I last worked in regular physical proximity with my team at Stanford. Of all the things I’m looking forward to, I must say that eavesdropping is near the top of the list. And no, I don’t just mean overhearing others’ conversations (although I certainly do mean that!); I mean people overhearing mine, too!

Think about it: when’s the last time, in this distributed working environment, that someone said, “Excuse me… I’m so sorry for interrupting, but I couldn’t help but overhear you saying…” and proceeded to make an unexpected yet constructive contribution to the work?

Yeah, me too. About 18 months.

Overheard conversations — what I’m provocatively calling “eavesdropping” for click bait’s sake — are immensely valuable in sparking serendipity, both in our own work, and in others’, yet virtual environments are by virtue of their very construction utterly devoid of unintended communications (besides mute fails!).

Serendipitous connections have driven the designs of countless environments, from Pixar to Bell Labs. When George Salah, Google’s longtime director of facilities, was planning their move into Silicon Graphics’ campus in Mountain View, he said, “We want to pack those buildings, not just because it minimizes our footprint but because of the interactions you get, just accidental stuff you overhear.”

In his fantastic Yes, And, Kelly Leonard recounts how one of the most successful productions in Second City’s recent history was the byproduct of eavesdropping. “It was at the Second City holiday party that a few of us, including Kelly, remarked on how theatrical (the Rod Blagojevich) scandal was becoming. Offhandedly, Kelly said, ‘We should make a rock opera of the whole thing,’ which caught the ear of writer/performers Ed Furman and TJ Shanoff, who were in conversation nearby. A few minutes later, Ed and TJ approached Kelly. ‘We figured out your rock opera,’ TJ offered. Then add added, ‘It’s called Rod Blagojevich Superstar.”

As Stanford comes back to campus this fall, I’m hoping I resist the urge to be shuttered away, insulating myself from the unexpected inputs that will serendipitously arrive if only my collaborators are bold enough to listen in, and contribute to, the discussions they’ve been missing online.

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