travelling...

This past week I was able to travel with one of Turnstone's managers who works with dealers in selling our products. Now, I've been on numerous road trips before with family that usually involve many tasty snacks and stops along the way, but this was something all together different. The trips I took this past week were ones that ended up spending more time driving than being in the actual place and took the form of coffee in hand and black pants on rather than naps and candy.

We met bright and early Wednesday morning to drive to a show at a dealer across the state. Two and a half hours, numerous conversations about business and life in general, and a few cups of coffee later we found ourselves at our dealer. We had the front and center spot to show our product and chat with customers, designers, and dealers alike.

This was a whole new side of the business for me. Instead of sitting in the office looking at our product or talking with other co-workers about it, I got to see it shine. I got to see the customer's reaction to our stuff, not our own perspective about marketing it differently or changing this or that in producing it. I was able to see the story behind it and how it resonated with them. It was fresh and innovative and exciting for them, which made it that way for me.

I think so often in our work we see it and work with it everyday until it becomes stale and repetitive. We lose the insight that it really contains and the story and excitement behind it. For me, talking with designers about it brought back all of that excitement. It was wonderful to see designers envision this product in spaces they were working with and for it to do its purpose: solve their problems and make their spaces look great.

So, travelling. It's something I love. I love to see new communities and places and meet new people. I love to talk with them and see what they deal with on an everyday basis. On top of that, I was able to spend numerous hours travelling the same highway 3 days in a row with wonderful conversation and learning about the business with a co-worker. It was eye-opening, interesting, and brought back excitement to office furniture. Props...

getting older...

One of the things I love about Steelcase is the ability that I, as an intern, have to meet with top management and get to know people at the top. There is such an open atmosphere in that regard and I witnessed it first hand this week.

A few of my fellow Turnstone interns and I were able to set up a meeting with the president of the company, just because, and it was wonderful. I think my generation is prone to think that older men in suits are all business and no fun, but that simply isn't true.

As we were talking with the president, I asked him how he stays innovative and creative after being in the same position for so long, working 8-5, and let's be honest, with office furniture. I mean, how do you keep office furniture interesting?

He replied by talking about his biggest fear: getting old. He asked us if we thought 'old' was an age thing or a mindset. We all agreed it was a mindset thing, that you are old when you think you're old, and more than that, when you stop thinking, exploring, and trying new things. Being old is when you're stuck in the same pattern and when you make the decision to stop thinking about new things, to keep listening to the same music and to think you know all there is to know.

I can think of numerous people my age who are 'old'. They have traded the hard, invigorating work of exploring and learning for complacency and a staleness. Honestly, it may be easier to think you know everything, to do things you've always done, but it is certainly not as rewarding. There is something about finding a new way, learning a new song, finding a new routine that is so revolutionary that it was worth the time and effort spent learning.

This idea is so inspiring to me. I am 'young' and have ideas and innovations that I don't even know that I have. How can I challenge people and bring new ideas to keep those I'm working with from growing 'old'? Because, at the end of the day, isn't this what we're all afraid of? We're afraid of the day when we don't know why we have structured our life the way it is because we only did so since it was convenient. We're afraid of the day when a new technology comes along and we don't want to take the time to figure it out. Therefore we owe it to each other to keep one another young, to keep challenging each other, learning things about our world and each other, and ultimately keep innovation and creativity flowing, because that is the wellspring of wisdom.

fireworks from above...

I was recently flying into Boston, it just so happened to be the 3rd of July. Upon our graceful descent, there were fireworks bursting into the sky. I had never seen fireworks from the sky, only from the ground, surrounded by sticky popcorn, crying children, and ambulances in the distance. This was a different experience all together. Each firework would burst with no ho hum, no oo's and aah's but just simple colors bursting all over the sky.

As I was watching this, I realized how much in life I approach things from only one point of view. It was done this way before, it will be done this way again. Our system has worked this way before, it will continue to operate this way as well. Office furniture (or anything in life) has always been sold and set up this way, so it should continue.

I am realizing in life and work, that approaching things from this way is not only unproductive, its just plain boring. Jumping in to work as an intern here, I have been trying to learn more and more, soaking up knowledge and business, without questioning why things are done the way they are. Why do we look up things this way? Why do our ordering cycles go this way?

Instead of challenging these things, I have fallen into the cycle of doing, without thinking about why I am doing it this way. I have been in the middle of projects and suddenly stopped and thought, 'This is taking too long this way, why not try it this other way?' Often though, the old was is comfortable and familiar, and therefore I don't change the way my project is running or step back and do the hard work of starting over from a new perspective.

I've accepted sparklers, gooey candy, and ornery children without realizing that watching fireworks from above is pretty spectacular. I've made spreadsheets, gone into meetings, and started projects from only one viewpoint, without taking a moment to sit back and challenge and ask the difficult questions.

I suppose its all part of the learning process. Not only learning about furniture and how to properly spec it, understand it, and make it better, but also about how to think and use my skills in new and more useful ways, one of those being watching fireworks from an airplane.