art. “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.”

we are, many of us, artists. the consultant, the software engineer, the communications specialist. few of our jobs rely on following a manual and pressing the big red button on large robots in manufacturing plants. our jobs don’t consist of place this thing here and press that thing there. they require creativity. they require ingenuity. they require imagination. and so if we are artists expressing our ideas in our everyday work, why do so few of us work in studios?

a website i have fallen in love with over the past months since i was introduced to it is a site called office snapshots. it’s a collection of physical office locations for many various firms around the world. from greece and ireland and germany all the way to australia and new zealand. it’s so great and refreshing to see so many firms creating working spaces for their employees to find their inner artist and engage with it.

these spaces engage the senses with color and sound and shapes you can touch; bright open spaces you can feel a part of. the fact that they’re not all the same—each room is different, each space its own, each area a unique touch—forces you to activate and engage different areas of your brain helping to spark that creativity and imagination and innovation we so dearly desire in business today.

we want to change the way we work, or the way our employees work, so that we can unlock the next killer app in our markets. we constantly ask ourselves how we can be more like google or how we can be more like apple. how can we start to act more like them? one of the easiest ways to shift your way of thinking is to change the seat you’re sitting in.

literally.