#BizTrends2026 | Modus Operandi's Simon Säll: Predictions and contradictions - The future of work

Simon Säll, managing director, Modus Operandi, looks at the future of work (Image supplied)

While this article is another contribution to the futurist dialogue - thank you, BizTrends - it’s not intended to be a bunch of predictions.

Every technological revolution brought a larger cascade of social changes than the last, often paired with an air of apocalypticism. I’m not that pessimistic.

The industrial revolution created more and new kinds of jobs, a higher living standard for more people, and different ways of thinking about services and industry.

Not all doom and gloom

So, in this digital age, perhaps it’s not all doom and gloom with AI either. But that’s not what I want to discuss.

I’m interested in the rise of niche professions that the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ and ‘digital evolution’ have brought about, and the impact that’ll have on how we build businesses and perform as individual professionals.

I enjoy contradictions. Life is full of them. The concept of a global village is one I think about quite a bit.

While globalism has its problems, which I don’t have the word count to get into, globalisation is a phenomenon that we have no choice but to manage.

The term originally described how access to information would bring people closer together – I think of it differently – it’s arguably divided people through ideological echo chambers.

I think of it in terms of how people held village roles. The local doctor, the local baker, the local policeman – each person played a role in their community, and everyone knew each other.

As villages became towns and cities, individual roles became organisations, organisations became corporations, and community relationships became brand loyalties.

So, what am I yapping about with my snowflake view on the global village?

Well, I think (or hope) that we’re heading toward a market fragmentation, a shift away from centralised corporate models and towards a global village of specialised service providers – a freer free market, if you will.

Bedrock of the service economy

Why do I think this? Well, start-up rates are at record highs, global living standards are higher than ever, global skills are more accessible than ever, and layoffs in tech and manufacturing are seeing record highs across both the EU and the US.

Sure, you could argue that layoffs are due to automation and a looming recession. I’m not dismissing that, but I think it’s a shortsighted answer.

If you’ve ever spent time watching the credits of a good film or video game, you’ll have seen an extensive list of studios that collaborated under the supervision of a production company.

It’s not uncommon for marketing agencies to follow similar workflows, either. And, of course, it’s standard practice for SMEs that can’t afford to internalise all their functions to outsource key processes to various service providers.

Outsourcing is the bedrock of what we today call the service economy.

Not convinced? Fair. Another indicator for me is the rise and growing institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies.

The sentiment for decentralisation

They emerged from a distrust of centralised financial systems. While they were dismissed by “the mainstream” for over a decade, their growth ballooned, with the total crypto market cap reaching $4.2tr in October 2025, and the financial institutions noticed.

Love it or hate it, I’m not here to sell the case for crypto; I’m saying that the sentiment for decentralisation has been growing across sectors, and I don’t believe it’s slowing down.

This thinking, along with some youthful arrogance, is what drove me onto the entrepreneurial path over a decade ago. I believed I could create more value as a free agent, unburdened by slow corporate bureaucracy and politics.

The path hasn’t been without its many challenges, but it exposed me to business problems and knowledge at a higher level and faster pace than I would have had otherwise.

It’s what has inspired my partners and I to start our company, M/O (Modus Operandi) - a decentralised CMO offering for businesses.

As marketers of various disciplines, we experienced a recurring issue – our clients were hiring us to solve problems for them that were often too far gone.

We were hamstrung to deliver duct tape solutions to deeper business problems.

We decided to position ourselves to integrate into our client’s leadership teams – to work from inception, not from delivery.

We decided to decentralise the CMO role by integrating a team of specialists to bridge the gap for companies that are too small for a CMO and too complex for fractional agents.

I said I wasn’t going to make predictions, but I also said I enjoy contradictions. We’ll see if it pays off.