• “A cluster of cubicles in an office. From the top down, they look like an art farm or bee nest, hiving productive little workers into their cells.”
• “The vain attempt to produce privacy in an otherwise open-office layout through the placement of shared partitions in a box-like arrangement around each adjoining work area.”

Doesn’t sound too sexy does it? Why then is the cube concept still so prevalent in the American corporate culture?

According to Michael Joroff (a senior lecturer at MIT), the cubes have had their day back in 1960s when they were first invented by Herman Miller, and to quote what he wrote, ‘they were established at a time when work was done head down, by yourself.’

Fast forward 40 years – the corporate buzzwords now are terms such as ‘collaboration’, ‘creativity’ and ‘innovation’ and employees are encouraged more than ever to think differently and out-of-the-box, especially in our industry, where breakthrough ideas / ‘media-firsts’ / ‘never-been-done-before’ ideas (that are on brief of course) are embraced. Yet, I realize that the physical environment we are operating in – where it’s supposed to act as an incubator for great ideas – contradict the very notion of the above. 

Cubes are incredibly stifling, both physically, and mentally (especially those that are 6′feet high, like mine). It doesn’t encourage interaction amongst your colleagues and in fact promotes isolation. In a sprawling office layout filled with identical sombre-looking cubes, it is highly likely that you won’t get to see or know half of those people who sit on the other side of the floor, unless you actually bother to make your rounds every morning. Neither will a partition be sound-proof, so there’s no way it’ll block out noise/discussions among your colleagues on the other side if that’s what it’s meant to help with.

On the other hand, open concept offices are all but the above. I believe that the corporate culture is shaped largely by its people and that the work environment has to be conducive enough to promote social interaction. Open concept offices allow greater collaboration amongst colleagues, encourage more interaction, and generally just makes it a more dynamic environment to work in. The energy, the zest and the dynamics that come along with an open concept office is contagious too, in a good way! Also, that gives one less reason to slack away now that one can’t hide behind that gray intimating cube while surfing leisurely away.

Sure, having cubes does allow more personal space, privacy and less distractions. But it will not be an environment where ideas strive. And if this is going to be an ideas economy, this has got to change, or at least, let there be a Version 2.0. Contradictory to popular beliefs, having an open concept layout doesn’t necessarily mean that one will get distracted by people around them all the time and therefore, not being able to concentrate. 

It seemed to be a different story in Europe and Asia, where open concept offices are embraced and are the norm rather than the exception. My favorite has got to be the Ogilvy office in Singapore – gorgeous layout and incredibly stimulating.

Speaking of which, come summer this year, Ogilvy New York will be moving to their new office space – one that is being reconstructed from an industrial building which used to be a chocolate factory. The biggest change maybe – as a staff put it really well, is the adjustment to the open space concept. Read all about his experience  here on the blog they’ve created for the upcoming move. It’s a great idea too, this blog, to keep employees abreast on the developments leading up to the move, and I’ve no doubt it’ll not be any less spectacular than the one in Singapore.

The map above shows the island of Manhattan (one of 5 boroughs that makes up New York City). 

Zooming in to Hell’s Kitchen above, the neighborhood spans from Times Square to Hudson River, between 42nd Street and 57th Street. With such a name we can imagine that the neighborhood’s past wouldn’t be very glamorous. In fact, it has a reputation as the gritty part of town until the recent 10 years or so when it went through gentrification and is now a bustling neighborhood with filled with great restaurants, bars, bakeries and other amenities. This was also where the West Side Story musical was set. 

Not a big fan on the proximity to ever-crowded Times Square and Theatre District (Broadway) but easily overlooked by the proximity to the Hudson River, the gorgeous view of the sunset from our apartment and great roommates. 

More photos here.

PS: For my (curious) friends and family, the section of Hudson River to the left of Clinton was where the US Airways jet landed.

Read both articles here:

Jeff Jarvis – “A Portfolio Instead of a Diploma”
Mark Pullen – “Beyond Portfolios”

It’s certainly a term that’s being coined recently, and by that I mean in the late 1990s – early 2000s. A search on Google Trends (see image) showed that it only really picked up in 2007. Interestingly enough, it seems that both NYC and Singapore rank high up on the list, being the top 2 cities searching this term (Google defines this ratio as the ratio of searches for your term coming from each city divided by total Google searches coming from the same city). Looks like I’m in good company regardless of whether I’m in Singapore or in New York. 

This makes me wonder if the generations before us felt this as profoundly as the Gen X / Y s feel about it, or did the proliferation of the Internet globally played a part in this? Maybe as the world gets more and more connected, and with everyone having easy access to all sorts of information, the possibilities begin to seem endless and people are no longer satisfied as they seek to strive for something more.

I can easily identify several of my peers who are experiencing this so-called quarter life crisis. 

Most of whom have graduated with a business degree. Maybe that’s the root of the problem? Majority of those who went to business school, I suspect, are those who have no idea what they want to do later in life, and who usually choose it by using the elimination method (if one’s grades are not good enough to study medicine and law, and if one’s not keen to do engineering, science, design – we go to business school.) We go in with the mentality that this would be the degree that’ll at least guarantee a job in ‘business’, and is the best choice given all the above considerations I’ve just mentioned. 

Then, upon graduation, we all realized that it’s no longer about scoring A’s or Distinctions in school, nor working together towards our common goal – graduation. All of a sudden (not so sudden anymore since it’s been technically 4 years since graduation, which makes it worse), there wasn’t a clear path to follow and a clear goal to achieve.

One by one, we landed jobs in various sectors, in marketing, in HR, in banking and finance, in advertising. Decent jobs. But everyone still seem dissatisfied with their jobs (and lives) and seem like they are constantly seeking for something else…something else that not only provide a pay check but also align with their passions. Yet some are convinced that a job, is a job afterall. Some, like me, feel that our job should be an extension of our interests in life, for why spend 1/3 of our lives on something which you dread doing? Especially during the golden 20s. When we were 16, we couldn’t wait to turn 18, and then 21. Now that I’m 26, I sense myself clinging on to the last few years of my 20s – not that I really dread 30, but I just haven’t had enough. Will I look back in my 30s and think of all the things that I should have done, but didn’t have the courage to do in my 20s? If so, why am I not doing it?

I don’t exactly know what we are searching for, or whether we will ever be satisfied. Maybe we think we are larger than life and are just not contented with being ‘good enough’. 

On a positive note, I guess that’s what the 20s are for!

Doing the morning shifts when I worked at Borders was great – an hour arranging books and cds in the store before we opened it, the smell of fresh coffee brewing at the Borders cafe, and more often than not, a great album playing in the background to perk everyone up. Borders used to be the go-to hangout, and it was a standing joke that it’s became a (noisy) library, and the children’s section – a zoo of sorts where kids and parents alike go wild. A consumer behavior that is Uniquely-Singapore indeed (to quote our Tourism Board), for it doesn’t seem to be the case in Australia nor the States. 

Virgin Megastore recently announced that it will be closing down its flagship store at Times Square in April. Borders, not surprisingly is not performing very well financially either. Malcolm Gladwell’s new book – Outliers, is selling at $15.39 on Amazon and likely be sold at close to $27.99 RPP at Borders (maybe with an ‘additional 20% off’). I question how long these brick-and-motar bookstores which were once so popular will last. 

Which brings me to ponder what the fate of the much-loved independent bookstores everywhere will be. As it is right now, several of those of already closed shop. While I might not want to spend at the major chains if I could get the same off Amazon, I’d be more inclined to do so at the indie bookshops – since it’s usually a much pleasant shopping experience and has that personal touch that the chains so sorely lack. 

Here are a few of my favorites in NYC

• Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway at 12th Street
• Oscar Wilde Bookshop, 15 Christopher Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
• McNally Robinson, 52 Prince Street between Lafayette and Mulberry Streets
• Biography Book Shop, 400 Bleecker Street

Definitely an advocate of all things local / indie, and that applies to books, music and fashion. To that note, when in Singapore, don’t forget to visit and support BooksActually at Ann Siang Road.  I promise it’ll be worth it, and maybe even take you for a ride down memory lane!

I dare say that the kopitiam culture is something deeply ingrained in the lives of most, if not all Singaporeans. In the morning, you’ll spot housewives buying breakfast back home for their families or groups of ‘uncles’ drinking teh (tea) and coffee. Come afternoon time, you’ll probably see younger groups of students buying their lunches. During the evenings and the night time, it’s not uncommon to see diverse groups of people – from groups of uncles drinking bottles of beer, to youngsters/working professionals catching up over dinner or just friends catching up over a drink. 

Sure the above might even sound normal, but after living away from home (and getting a little homesick at times) makes one sees things through a different lens with a different perspective, and often with higher sensitivities with the ‘regular’ things we have gotten so used to. This kopitiam vibe is certainly something unique to Singapore(ans) and something you can’t easily replicate elsewhere. Not to mention the feeling of nostalgia one feels.

My most memorable meals in Singapore during this Christmas/New Year break, not surprisingly, were all at kopitiams. Catching up with friends on many occasions over teh, rojak, black pepper crabs, fishball noodles, laksa, etc. Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of our neighbourhoods. Who would want to meet up for a ‘coffee’ in Orchard Road which is now transformed into a stretch of soul-less malls with no flavour whatsoever anymore?

Total (current) number of shopping centres: 71

On average, we have 1 mall / 10 square km. It’s no wonder that shopping has been dubbed our national past-time. How many times have we heard that Singapore is ‘just like a giant air-conditioned mall”? 

Many years ago suburban malls began sprouting up at every train station. No doubt these provided great convenience to the residents but do we really need EVERY suburban mall to be a replica of one another? When I stepped out of Tanjong Pagar MRT station last week I almost thought I accidentally got off at Raffles Place MRT station since they’ve decided to adopt the exact same concept at Tanjong Pagar. So if it works, let’s duplicate! 

Will having more shopping centres really help to improve the quality of our lives in Singapore and contribute working towards a healthy work-life balance that’s so sought after? Does it contribute to our society culturally? No, and no. 

What kind of society are we breeding by adopting shopping as a national past-time?

Most commonly, food. Most restaurants offer ‘Fast and Free Delivery” with a minimum of $10 per order. Need wine? The local wine store will gladly deliver as well. I learnt from my roommate that the deli round the corner delivers smoothies too. Online grocers/supermarkets are abundant, sometimes cheaper (thanks to the online promotional coupon codes) and incredibly efficient (next day delivery).

In fact, most major retailers offer online shopping, from apparels, to shoes, to furniture, to toys, to books and music, to household items, electronics, pet food, accessories, medicine and what have you. I don’t quite know if this is unique to big cities only, but I do find it an interesting social phenomenon.

Why fight the crowds at the shops when doing your holiday shopping, when you can probably purchase everything online and gets everything delivered? Saves time, effort, and possibly money too.