Donald tells the story that I also read in Creativity, Inc. by cofounder of Pixar Animation Ed Catmull.

It seemed that he noted at a Notes Day that there was something causing the Pixar creatives to not be as open and forthcoming with suggestions and ideas.

A light bulb went off in his head realizing it was the CONFERENCE TABLE that owner Steve Jobs had commissioned and installed in the room. It was the typical RECTANGULAR one you see in almost all conference rooms.

There are two ends where usually the executives sit and even in a home the husband at one end and the wife at the other end with the guests in the middle chairs.

This is known as the GRID pattern which has as Ed Catmull discovered that day causing the shutdown of creativity! As the author Donald says it causes “bobble-head” agreement with the “power” seated executives!

Ed had the table removed immediately and replaced it with a CIRCULAR one and the creativity, suggestions, and ideas began to flow freely at Notes Day and Braintrust meetings!

Instead of focusing on the so called executive/s the flow is toward the CENTER.

I designed this Raptor Dome™ using Feng Shui as what I thought as the ideal office; however look at the conference room table on the right side middle.

RECTANGULAR!

Also the placement of the desks in the associates area needs to be more CIRCULAR and not in staggered lines.

Hugh Simpson

#thedomedude