The New Office

Having a place people want to be is one of the key ingredients to Starbucks phenomenal success. Their goal was to be the third spot where people spent a lot of time along with their home and office. They were successful to a large degree. Others are trying new versions of this formula. Yesterday I went to Panera Bread for lunch around 2:30. They offer free Wi-Fi and the place was full of people. I could hardly find a place to sit. Most tables had people working on their laptops. People were interviewing for jobs on other tables. A cold cup of coffee was about the only evidence of a purchase in nearly all cases. I’m thinking a lot of people are back to spending most of their time in two places, home and the pseudo office/coffee shop with free Wi-Fi. My thoughts, this isn’t a bad way to work. I think the formal office is going to go the way of newspapers. All you need is a table, laptop and a cell phone for an awful lot of jobs. Companies could save a great deal of money and create more interesting places to work by adapting to this reality. Sell your stock in file cabinet and desk manufactures.