Twenty-one days without a break, covered in cuts and bruises—this isn’t what you’d expect a job at a software startup to look like. Nor would you expect your CEO to be assembling furniture late into the night to meet the deadline to move half the organization into its new office. But this isn’t your typical software startup.
Throughout my career, I’ve visited hundreds of offices in New York, London, Berlin, and elsewhere. Clients, prospects, partners. Whether I was at a Fortune 500 company or a scrappy tech startup, a creative agency or a real estate giant, I was routinely surprised that their offices were strikingly inconsistent with their brand. These were businesses and creatives at the forefront of innovation, surrounded by stark fluorescent lighting, beige carpet tiles, and over-dampened acoustics. The spaces were boring, sterile, and deeply uninspiring. How could cool, innovative brands work in offices like this? And what did it say about their commitment to creativity? If they couldn’t provide a good environment for themselves and their colleagues, how could they deliver a positive experience for their customers?
Outside of the office, we place so much value on experience. The restaurants we dine in, the hotels we stay at, and even the stores we shop in. These environments are designed and crafted in hopes of offering up a positive experience to the customer. The choices we make about one business or product over another are based on both logic and feeling, with a positive brand experience often leading to brand loyalty. Would anyone enjoy staying in a hotel that was poorly designed or eating in a restaurant that left them uninspired? So why is it that some businesses place so little value in the environments they create for their employees and clients?
