Source: www.flickr.com
Green encourages harmony, blue inspires innovation, and bright orange promotes creativity. Well, that is the general idea anyway. Especially if you ask the bright orange coloured news-oracle Bloomberg.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Bloomberg's offices in London, and I have to say, in terms of design it probably tops many of its competitors. The office is stunning. Almost entirely made out of glass, filled with enormous fish tanks, bright coloured lights and meeting rooms without walls or door. It is all to in the name of transparency, creativity and sustainable performance. And it does come together quite nicely, though does a plush office space and lack of privacy equal outstanding results?
Source: www.germexpress.com
Michael Bloomberg's idea is pretty clear; the sales floor is green floor to ceiling and supposedly inspiring harmony, the R&D floor has the colour of innovation: blue, and of course Bloomberg's own brand colour: bright orange - source of creativity - is on everything from lifts to coffee cups in the cafeteria.
The meeting room table and chairs (or should I say table placed right in the middle of the open space office floor?) are made from recycled monitors and keyboards. All this recycling of office supplies and 4000 species of fish is great and all, but is it a distraction more than a source of creativity?
Source: www.germexpress.com
Maybe I am being cynical, and Bloomberg truly is an outstanding information-tool, supplying its clients with everything from the latest company news and P/E forecasts to the number of submarines in the North Sea, but if no prior education is needed as part of the entry requirements and our tour guide herself admits that they end up simply starring at the fish from time to time, it makes me wonder. Is it really all that to work at Bloomberg?
I am a true believer of transparency and good working environments, however, I think Bloomberg might just be a little bit too much of a finance-copy of Google where a majority of communication is done in 4-lettered codes and a passion for fish is a fundamental part of the corporate culture.
Source: www.flickr.com
On another note, a well-deserved holiday is coming my way, so there might be some time between this and my next post. Most likely I will be discussing the state of the euro and how Mrs Merkel's no-prisoners-attitude is affecting the world of investment. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
