In 1927 Alfred P Sloan asked Harley Earl to be the head of ‘The Art and Colour Section’ at General Motors. Earl liked to work from an office called the ‘Hatchery’. It had no phone, blacked out windows and a made-up title on the door. This was so he could work undisturbed. Sloan defended him because his styling sold cars. Harley Earl later designed and introduced the Chevrolet Corvette in 1953 and although the car has evolved to a sixth generation, it is still in production today.
Some days I go to meetings, some days I sit at the computer and other days I’m out driving. Pretty much all the time, I’m doing something involved with our business. Eventually though, you learn working too hard can become unproductive. There is a fine line where being too close and too involved can influence your judgement as a Manager.
The story of Harley Earl is important because it shows what the benefits of undisturbed thinking time can achieve. Recognizing the importance of stepping away from things is a must for keeping a clear perspective so that focus is balanced and well placed. It helps clear the mind and generate new ideas that can take a business way ahead of its competitors just like Alfred P Sloan and Harley Earl proved.
However unlike Harley Earl, I find the best thoughts often come just after I’ve been freezing cold, soaking wet and hammering through a forest on a light-weight mountain bike! Where do you get yours?
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