How Big is Your Desk?

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Bloomberg LP is well known for not having private offices.

A lesser-known cultural anchor is that everyone has the same-sized desk.

There are practical reasons for standard sizes. Desks with the same dimensions are interchangeable, easier to move, repair and replace.

But the conviction goes deeper and comes from founder, Mike Bloomberg.

Mike’s view is that bigger desks, just like walls and offices, create barriers to communication. They obstruct the information flow that is the lifeblood of modern knowledge workers.

“There are no private offices at Bloomberg,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in a 2015 interview. “My desk is exactly the same size as everyone else’s.”

Mike’s corporate philosophy and conviction about desk size was tested during the 12 years he left the company to be mayor of New York City.

When he returned in early 2014, the company had been transformed. It was perhaps three times larger and had moved into a new flagship headquarters on Lexington Avenue.

The changes in the product, people and environment were profound and a lot to absorb.

But at some point, Mike realized some senior executives and managers had ordered larger desks. Others had turned conference rooms into private offices.

He was not amused.

He called the facilities department and over one weekend had those larger desks replaced with standard-sized versions, which, incidentally, were the same size as the one he used.

Desk size wasn’t for him some kind of faux equality signal. It was about communications and efficiency, issues he viewed as critical to the success of the company.

He explained the decision to one of the sales reps: “When the top people get bigger desks then everyone wants bigger desks. It stops people from coming up to you with ideas.”

I had a meeting with Mike soon after he returned and he mentioned how angry he was about the big desks and private offices. He saw it as a kind of cultural erosion.

It made sense to me. I had friends at other firms that awarded managers with private offices with couches and plants. All of those things cut them off from the day-to-day flow of connecting with colleagues.

One of the challenges for leaders is to know which traditions to keep and which to discard.

This isn’t about big policy decisions, but the idiosyncratic markers that help define company values.

Like the pledge from Costco’s CEO that the company will never raise the price for a hot dog lunch at its stores above $1.50. That re-enforces a message that Costco is cost-conscious.

At most companies, the size of one’s desk and office convey your status and importance.

At Bloomberg, desk size matters for a different reason.

It’s Mike’s way of reminding everyone the company is in the information and communications business.

(Part of a series of lessons I learned from three decades at Bloomberg LP.)

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

EINSTEIN’S OFFICE: Einstein’s office in Princeton just hours after his death shows a life interrupted.

HAMILTON’S OFFICE: Alexander Hamilton’s study in his country home, the Grange. The desk is a replica of the original which still exists.

COPPOLA’S OFFICE: Sofia Coppola’s home office is a wonderful confetti cannon of images strewn everywhere.

WHOLE FOODS OFFICE: Unknown guy sets up six mobile monitors to work from Whole Foods.

DHH’S OFFICE: Danish programmer David Heinemeier Hansson has one of the most unbelievable views from his tidy California office.

DAD’S OFFICE: My father at his desk going over the numbers.