B
Executive Suite
A candid conversation with Steelcase CEO, Jim Hackett, about how systems thinking,
connectivity, technology, and design knit a global corporation together
Some months ago, Jim Hackett, chief
executive officer of Steelcase since 1994,
and I sat down in his executive collaboration
suite in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to talk about
the past, and mostly, the present and future
of the century-old corporation he heads.
He could have chosen to meet in his
own office, which is graced by an
exquisite handwoven rug by ARZU,
an Afghan women’s collective, and powered by his live telepresence system.
But true to form—Jim has been known
to test-drive the furniture his company
designs, prototypes, and produces—he
chose to sit in a media:scape® collaborative setting, the tech-savvy product
that’s part furniture and part technology, and is designed to invite exchange
from around the globe.
As we talked, Jim put media:scape
into action. Using his laptop, he called
up photos and film clips from the
archives, and drew charts and added
visual punctuation to the points he
was making by writing words, drawing
arrows, and using other graphic sym-
bols. I was able to see the results of all
this engaging activity, on a large scale
and in high definition, on the three flat
screens that surround the sizeable,
wired table.
