Read this at onrec.com

” The Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development reports that staff churn at UK companies is 15.7% and that the estimated direct cost of replacing an employee is 50% of their starting salary (once advertising, training, administration and management time is taken into account). With an average salary of £22,000, a business of 250 staff could lose £430,000 a year simply due to dissatisfaction with the office environment. In the financial or legal sectors, where recently qualified employees can average salaries nearer £50,000, the cost is closer to £1 million.”

That is nearly JPY 90,000,000 to 208,000,000, the cost of renovating an office for 250 staff.

While working on a project, at a certain moment, I “see” it. The project unfolds in my head. All of a sudden it is there. And if not, I am in a panic. It means that I still have to understand the scope and spend more time on this.
A teacher at an architecture university, where I learned everything about how not to do architecture, exclaimed at the beginning of the first year that being an architect is unlike being an artist. “Architects”, this stout, bearded man would proclaim, “can never, ever make the excuse that artist use: that today is not a good day. Inspiration is not what drives architects. Architecture is hard work.” How wrong he was. (not about hard work but about inspiration).
I once read that Jan Cremer, the Dutch writer, after having finished his “field work”, retreats and surrounds himself with certain East European pencils, special paper before he starts working on a new book.
Inspiration comes from doing the right amount of preparation and creating the right mood to let the creative juices flow. It is like going on a date: the dinner, the clothes, the wine, the music, the light are all as important as knowing how to please your partner’s various body parts. As we have learned from Casanova all of which is hard work.

The follow-up of Funky Business by maverick Swedish business gurus Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom. The publication itself is a bit confusing as the hard cover and soft cover (the one I read) have the same title but different subtitels, it is not clear whether both books are the same or not.

Anyway, fantastic reading. Walter Benjamin once wrote that he wanted to create a book created entirely out of quotations. Karaoke Capitalism does just that as “an attempt of making a horizontal analysis - linking changes in many different areas and walks of life together so that they form a tapestry of our topsy times”.  In music this approach would be called “plunderphonics”, the writers mention that they used over 5000 post-its in creating this book-puzzle.
Takeshi Miura and I tried something similar when we created the online book made out of quotations and collage for the Miami Bienale: the future of the office.
Karaoke Capitalism summarizes what WorkVitamins is all about: due to increasing individualization companies need to create an emotional experience not only for our customers but also to attract and retain staff.
Favourite quote: Just like firms can grow the business model, companies can leverage the business mood.