Approximately 3,600 days, or nearly 10 years of a person's
life, are spent at work (eight hours a day times five days a
week . . . trust us, we did the math). As the
owner of your own company, you can probably multiply that figure a
few times.
The point of our equation? Well, although the majority of that
time is spent sitting down, "Most people don't think about
chairs," Galen Cranz writes in The Chair: Rethinking
Culture, Body and Design (W.W. Norton & Co.). "They
are part of our surroundings, meant to support us
silently." But by analyzing your chair, you may discover a
surprising commentary on your personality. Here's our take on
the following office chairs:
Chair 1: Founder and CEO of a multimillion-dollar
company? You don't say? Well, your chair certainly does. Even
if you just incorporated yesterday, you know the boss sits in
style, and you certainly know who's boss.
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Chair 2: It's all about the funk. We're talking
the vibrant colors of an artist's palette, the polished chrome
of a futuristic techie, the leather upholstery of one who
doesn't scrimp on style. Sitting beneath a limited-edition
Picasso print, your black-clad receptionist greets clients. Your
staff brainstorms while playing Ping Pong in the R & R
room.
Chair 3: Mmmm, comfy. You're laid-back and
accessible, so even your temps have an open-door invitation for a
coffee chat. But they can't sit in your chair. Ever.
Chair 4: The temps sit here. Just kidding. But you do
like simplicity in your seating. The thrills of a leather-bound
headrest don't attract you. You can sit in this chair, drive a
compact car and wear jeans to work--and the world will still know
you run the show.
Chair 5: You're ready for the office of the future.
Backrests and armrests, be damned. You know your spine can support
you just fine, and the flexibility you show in your choice of
seating reflects the flexibility of your thinking.
Chair 6: You like things that go fast: your car, your
modem and even your chair. The sleek design of this beech, birch
and steel model shows you can handle the curves of entrepreneurial
multitasking.