Modern Executive Office Furniture

The executive office furniture at the Acme law firm looked like something out of an old TV series about an erudite criminal attorney of worldwide fame who always won his case in the allotted sixty minutes. The three partners in the firm had given one another blank checks to decorate their offices, and each one did try to outdo the other in splendiferous fashion. Each office had thick pile green carpeting, and the similarities did not stop after the carpet. To a person viewing all three offices, it appeared that the attorney's wives had summoned the same decorator, and Feng Shui was not part of her Master's degree study. A heavy, top-down atmosphere in each office telegraphed the message that there would never be modern executive office furniture in any of the partner's offices for the next forty years. They were the Classic soda among all the newfangled diet drinks known as start up law partnerships. The firm's instruction manual for putting together a well respected law firm came out of the pages of an eastern university's law journal of the nineteen twenties.

There was no ambulance chasing, no television commercials and no advertising of any kind emanating from the quiet hallways of this prestigious law firm. It was the firm's reputation that drove the business to their library-like workplaces. The furniture featured large inlays of cherry and mahogany throughout the massive desks of all three attorneys. Each desk a little different in design and motif, one purchased from a Tuscany wood maker, one from a furniture maker at Stratford on Avon , and the third which featured carved lions as part of the leg structure came from Black Forest craftsmen. Hunter green walls made the cherry legal file cabinets jump to life, while Tiffany style lamps dotted the desks and end tables in each office and small chandeliers hung from the center of each room. The executive office furniture also included Windsor back chairs and rich brown leather club seating that gave off a very non subtle message of power and prestige as well as the coat for arms over the conference table in each of the three private workspaces.

The three Ivy League barristers had helped broker big deals, influence politicians and make millions of dollars for their clients and for themselves. Consequently, their homes, their cars and their lavish surroundings at the building that had housed the partnership for those twenty five years had to always exude the aroma of worldly success, including, of course their executive office furniture. The years took a toll as they always do, and when one of the partners became ill and passed away, the remaining two knew it was time to bring in a new partner who was younger and prepared to take the firm into the next century with fresh ideas and ways of practicing the law. Little did they know what awaited them one afternoon when the young woman they hired as a new partner blew into town in her three cylinder hybrid car and complained there weren't any organic chips in the firm's vending machine. This would not be business as usual.

The two partners had assured the woman that there would be ample money to decorate the workspace assigned to her, but there was no hint as to the changes that would take place. Modern executive office furniture would dominate her office. Chrome, curved maple wood and lots of glass would begin to describe the desk of choice. Blue leathered accent chairs that had the shape of a lunar landing module surrounded the front of the desk. The woman's modern executive office furniture choices also included a solid glass conference table with four plain spindled chrome legs, wall to wall Maplewood bookcases with glass doors and chrome floor lamps that featured five foot extensions that ended with 1960's style miniature hair dryer as the lampshades. Add to those changes cream colored carpeting, accent rugs from Scandinavia and white walls filled with abstract art and the move for this law firm into the 21st century had begun. And perhaps one of the most shocking requests the new partner had was the removal of all curtains from the windows to actually let in sunlight and the other two partners began openly questioning each other's wisdom.

The move from the more traditional executive office furniture to modern executive office furniture can actually be, in many cases, a shift in organizational paradigm thinking. If a business executive is really into exuding power and authority, it can be at least be partially accomplished by continuing the heavy presence in the choice of furniture for the workplace. Cherry, walnut and mahogany woods speak of the traditional "top down" leadership model. The typical heavier, massive executive type desk can usher in a library type office aura where speaking in hushed tones befits the mantel of the high end executive. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." (Psalm 127:1)

Progressive collaborative and horizontal leadership paradigms encourage more open door policies and less emphasis upon titles. Executives wishing to pursue this kind of company atmosphere must begin to think about the entire approach to leadership, including the choice to have the more traditional executive office furniture or move to a more modern executive office furniture design that emphasizes openness throughout the company. While the top down leadership model works well in many instances, the wise executive wishing to instill a more collaborative approach knows that giving up the limo for pickup might also be a good move.

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