
There is art “work” in figure skating, in a gymnastics routine, in music, in writing and yes even in a beautifully orchestrated business. I confess I have been having an affair with Starbucks for quite some time now! No I'm not there everyday and not even every week and I don't just go there for the coffee. I love the buzz of the atmosphere, I love the unique designs of each store, to watch an energized crew kick out a dizzying array of caffeinated elixirs with amazing speed and good-humored banter. When you get to a good cafe and watch it work, it is truly an orchestra of art, from the rhythm of the morning rush to the slow groove of the mid-day sip and good book. Unfortunately, most of us don't look at our work as a form of art. It's just work, and at the end of day, work takes energy, but art can give it back. Beauty has its own reward! Sometimes I have to get away from my daily work of managing and writing and selling and listening and learning and directing to create something with my hands that feels like art. Because when I get done art gives back, it's like renewable energy.
Too often we go through our workday trying to minimize the amount of effort we expend so that we have something leftover for the precious moments outside of our jobs and work life. But what would happen if we begin to look at all of our work from the shuffling of paperwork, the filing, the marketing, the accounting, the managing, the problem-solving, the mentoring, the communicating, the office organizing, the brainstorming, the product development and even the cleanup, as art work? What if we began to arrange the flow and the energy and rhythm of our work with the kind of pains taking care of a gifted composer? If we all began to create art and not just work, what would be the economic, emotional and social effect on our workplace, our families and our communities? We could give our customers many reasons to buy from us instead of just one!
Remember, if all Starbucks did was serve coffee in a cup like McDonalds I would stay home and their multibillion dollar revenue stream wouldn't exist! All Howard Schultz (the founder of Starbucks) did was turn coffee into art, why else would we pay over five times the price of a McDonalds cup? Creating real art takes lots of energy but it can also energize an entire workforce and the customers and communities we serve! Art will always have much higher value than just work, so don't stop until your work becomes art!!
Let us help you turn your business into art, call today to set up a consultation!
By: Kevin Minne
InnovationGrowthSystems.com
720-354-0291