Inspired Manager

 

So that’s how inspiration works, right? I was in a waiting room (abysmal lobby and office furnishings - we could definitely help them) and chanced across the March issue of Fortune, and they had this little interview with Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes. I love the idea of investing in yourself - you never know what years of investment in you might end up reaping. It resonates with me. I have spent my career doing just that.

When I was in music school, I had the privilege of studying with Charles Rosen, the distinguished classical pianist and author of The Classic Style. He used to say that it isn’t how much time you log in performing or learning a piece that matters, it’s how often you come back to it that makes the difference in an interpretation. So, when you invest in you, you change. You come back to familiar situations in life and bring back a new found depth of experience or a changed perspective.

Office furnishings can change perspectives too, which is why what we do evokes such strong emotions in people. Investing in a beautiful and well-lit environment changes people’s behavior for the better, as evidenced by the Illumination Studies done in the mid 1920’s. There is still debate on the longevity of these changes on productivity, the effect is well documented. We just reconfigured the office furniture layout in our accounting area mid-June, and the difference is still being talked about. First, there is a dramatic increase in the level of light, noticed throughout the entire building! It is a beautiful space done in Steelcase ap40 with some Studio surfaces mostly in white, but with a shot of yellow. Low level panel height, glass panels, great views, which had all been obscured before. We look better, we dress better, we are more professional and a hell of a lot happier.

We invested in a quality work experience for our staff, and I guarantee that investment will pay off. It already is. People want to work there.

No end of possibility for what a wiggle in Accounting might inspire.