LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT A company that is completely charming.
Before entering its office in the commercial center of an art-directed New York suburb, you first walk through a restaurant courtyard that’s been set with tables for two. After picking your way through diners who are raising their glasses, be sure to raise your hand in greeting to the boss, who will be sitting just inside the entrance. While peering over his reading glasses, he’ll return your greeting with a warm, French-accented hello. After turning the corner you will be met again by a chorus of French-accented hellos, this time by a roomful of bright young women wearing stylish summer dresses.
If the office windows are open, you’ll know the chef next door is busy because you’ll smell the proof of his industry. Inside, you’ll see that the office has been well appointed with dried flowers, candles and photos of people having a good time.
If you visit this company on the Web, though, there’s a disconnect between the physical and the virtual. Charm is difficult to code. One is hot, the other is cold. Alas, a company’s culture can’t be easily translated into bits and bytes.
Nevertheless, I believe we can begin to make the virtual a truer approximation of the real by adding a new Web discipline. Between the team that writes code and the one that designs graphics, we must insert a third group that captures personality. These will be the charming (of course!) men and women who, after first auditing a company’s charm, will serve as chaperones as they escort this charm to the Web. (Such a move also can add to domestic payroll, which will be good for our 401(k) investments. That’s a two-base hit.)
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