Efficiency Won’t Keep Your Business Alive
Strict rules for business are now a liability, while the messiness of improvisation has become key to survival
Danny Meyer isn’t planning to reopen his restaurants “for a very long time — probably not until there’s a vaccine,” he told Bloomberg last month. “There is no excitement on my part to having a half-full dining room while everyone is getting their temperature taken and wearing masks, for not much money.”
The business models of restaurants like Meyer’s — along with retail stores, gyms, airlines, hotels, and beauty salons — are going through the Great Inefficiency Reckoning. Even when Meyer’s restaurants open, they will likely operate at a 50% reduction in capacity. We’ll probably see a similar reduction in capacity across a number of industries.
The drive for efficiency shapes how we work, live, and entertain ourselves. Open office plans, despite their association with free-flowing collaboration and kombucha taps, have been a prime efficiency tool to pack in as many people per square foot as possible.
