We are still trying to absorb the shock of Mr. Powell’s sudden and untimely death. Perhaps as part of the mourning process, I reread the piece I wrote almost exactly 4 years ago when Brad decided to retire. I thought it added something to what we had to say last week. I hope you agree. bb
Re-Sited: Brad Powell takes a Sabbatical
by Bob Beck
Our esteemed colleague, critic, mentor and friend Bradford J. Powell is taking the first step toward a well-earned retirement – an “indefinite Sabbatical.” After nearly twenty years of almost single-handedly writing and editing officeinsight every week, from now on he will contribute only those articles that have somehow caught his attention or piqued his interest.
Mr. Powell founded officeinsight in 1995 as a weekly newsletter delivered to subscribers via fax each Monday morning. Many of you who had home offices will remember occasionally being awakened in the predawn hours of Monday by the ringing and buzzing of the fax machine. Despite such inconveniences – oh, and the fact that the newsletter turned brown and curled up as the day wore on, the content was always good enough that those of you who remember those days are still among the 47,000 people who read officeinsight each week now.
Entrepreneurialism as a subject, despite its popularity in the business press, has never been a topic Mr. Powell has spent a lot of time exploring with his audience. Maybe that’s because while others were writing about it he was living it! Starting with little money and only parenthetical knowledge of the industry he saw an opportunity to utilize technology to distribute “the news” of a business community in a new way. Many people see opportunities, but only true entrepreneurs have what it takes to turn those opportunities into a successful business. I measure Mr. Powell’s success by the loyalty of our readers, our advertisers and those of you who contribute your news.
“Nineteen years as editor and primary writer at officeinsight,” said Mr. Powell, “has opened broad vistas of learning for me. The consideration of the interior environment and its interactions with human communities has provided the most enlightening period of my life. I look forward to pursuing many areas of interest in the coming days.”
“…The consideration of the interior environment and its interactions with human communities has provided the most enlightening period of my life.”
It isn’t necessary for readers of officeinsight to think about what officeinsight is or what it isn’t, but that question has been ever present in the mind of our editor in chief. And his fascination with the complex psychological and physical interactions among workers and their places of work, including their furnishings, has guided his choice of subjects to explore and his positioning of officeinsight as “giving voice to those who create workplace design and furnishings.”
His steadfast support of the interior design profession earned him an honorary FASID, of which he is duly proud. However, that unwavering support has also caused him to use his bully pulpit to urge the profession to higher professionalism by being highly critical on occasion; all with the best of intentions.
On a personal note, I have been friends with Brad since before he founded officeinsight, and I have always been amazed at his intelligence, his intellectual curiosity and his disciplined way of thinking issues through. Maybe these are innate traits; maybe they reflect his military training or the rigors of law school and practice. But since joining him at officeinsight, I can see clearly how they contributed to his building of this publication. As an editor he’s tough, some might even say merciless. It is clearly “not wrong” to say he doesn’t suffer fools lightly. So I am pleased to say that his sabbatical does not free him from responsibility to critique our work on an ongoing basis.
Mr. Powell sought tirelessly to inspire and improve our profession. It is our greatest hope to continue that unwavering, spirited effort into the future here at officeinsight.
If this moment in the life of Mr. Powell and officeinsight brings to your mind an interesting (or just comical) anecdote, please take a second to write it down and send it to bob@officeinsight.com.