Architecture & Engineering Business Strategies

Latest Episodes:

WXY Studio: How a Cross-Disciplinary Firm Prepares for Emerging Challenges (w/ Amy Hau, Colin Montoute) Feb 14, 2022

Show notes

In architecture, as with almost any business, the environment you create in your office can make or break your team’s productivity. But with pandemic protocols forcing many businesses to work remotely, meaningful interactions and a positive workplace culture are even harder to cultivate—but still just as important. Colin Montoute, director of architecture at WXY Studio, and managing director Amy Hau, brought their expertise to the table during our latest Best Practice webinar to talk about how they build a positive workplace environment so their employees can thrive.

Interview Takeaways

Over-communicate to keep expectations clear
Give people opportunities to contribute
Be willing to pivot to meet your client’s needs
Partner with other companies
Build trust with your clients
Create dialogue with your community
Help your clients plan their architecture
Equip your team to succeed
Add value to your firm
Frame your conversation around your client’s knowledge
Hire team members who will elevate their colleagues
Delegate tasks according to people’s strengths

Show Links

Connect with Colin Montoute on LinkedIn
Connect with Amy Hau on LinkedIn
Check out WXY Studio
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Studio Rick Joy: Fireside Chat (w/ Rick Joy, Taylor Dickson) Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

An architect’s role by definition revolves around the planning, designing, and construction of buildings. But Rick Joy, principal at Studio Rick Joy, doesn’t see it that way. He believes his role is to create a lifestyle, not a building. It’s taking the setting and landscape into account and bringing the best experience to life with what you design. It’s letting nature and light in and pushing inconveniences and burdens out. It’s talking a client out of building a house on a hilltop and instead down by the pond so they can easily watch their kids swim. In this Best Practice webinar, Rick and his Director of Communications, Taylor Garcia Dickson, discuss how that philosophy shapes their brand and is brought to life through their practice.

Interview Takeaways

Connect to the world around you
Hold live-in workshops
Bring diverse perspectives into your office
Tune into each other
Be in sync with nature
Treat nature as a luxury
Create a lifestyle, not a building
Enhance the experience of the project
Bring customers around to your timeline
Stick to the work that makes your firm happy
Stay in the present of your practice

Show Links

Connect with Rick Joy on LinkedIn
Connect with Taylor Garcia Dickson on LinkedIn
Check out Studio Rick Joy
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Selldorf Architects: How To Build Collaborative Practices (w/ Sara Lopergolo, Oliver Link) Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

Building a strong team sounds simple: put a bunch of talented people with complementary skill sets together in the same room. But in reality, there’s a carefully calibrated science to crafting a team that produces great work. On the latest Best Practice episode, Sara Lopergolo and Oliver Link from Selldorf Architects share their experience handpicking team members and facilitating collaboration. They end up with teams whose members not only work well together, but also teach and learn from each other.

Interview Takeaways

Close the loop
Check in, but not too much
Hire to fill a need
Don’t rush into hiring
Find employees who stick around
See the big staffing picture
Diversify your staff’s experience
Start projects with a small team
Prepare for meetings
Collaborate with clients
Listen & learn

Show Links

Connect with Sara Lopergolo on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Oliver Link on LinkedIn
Check out Selldorf Architects
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Diller Scofidio + Renfro: How To Run Projects And Lead Teams (w/ Holly Deichmann, Zoë Star Small) Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Strong leadership is the secret sauce of strong companies. You may be the most creative and most groundbreaking firm on the planet. But if your teams don’t work well together, if they spend too much time on the wrong parts of the process, and if they don’t keep clients happy—you’ll see subpar results. In this Best Practice interview, Holly Deichmann and Zoe Small, Associate Principals at Diller Scofidio + Renfro, share exactly how good managers can uphold the business: by empowering employees, setting up processes that manage client expectations, and maintaining just the right amount of anxiety to keep everyone on their toes.

Interview Takeaways

Embrace anxiety
Take off some of your hats
Diffuse the smallest icebergs first
Cap off the creative process
Get input early on
Make time for actual work
Be persistent in your creativity
Repurpose, rather than reinvent
Show, don’t just tell
Take time to establish trust initially
Match the right people to the right project
Prep clients for their responsibilities

Show Links

Connect with Zoe Small on LinkedIn
Connect with Holly Deichmann on LinkedIn
Check out Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Mancini Duffy: How to Reinvent a 105-Year-Old Design Firm (w/ Christian Giordano, Bolanle Williams-Olley ) Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

A technology-first firm is not one that merely uses the latest technology in their practice. It’s a firm that leverages that technology to allow collaboration in the sketching process all the way through a 3D experience. It’s having designers, project managers, technical architects, and software developers all working together to make things happen in tandem and instantaneously. Mancini Duffy is a firm that takes that collaboration seriously. In this Best Practice webinar, President Christian Giordano and CFO Bolanle Williams-Olley explain how that collaboration works through everything the firm does, including how they support their employees.

Interview Takeaways

Create a collaborative environment
Carry tech into the construction process
Meet client expectations
Have a unique selling point
Bond with your team to be a good leader
Bring in changes gradually
Focus on revenue before optional things
Increase efficiency and salaries
Offer vacation stipends and flexible hours
Ask for what you want in a firm
Find a staffing procedure that works for your firm
Look at things as you go and at the end

Show Links

Connect with Christian Giordano on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Bolanle Williams-Olley on LinkedIn or Twitter
Check out Mancini Duffy
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Woods Bagot: How To Increase the Impact of Digital Culture (w/ Shane Burger) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Digital is taking over the working world, and it’s time for your company to catch up. More and more, clients are clamoring for digital-based options, but many businesses are reluctant to shift their policies to accommodate new technology. On the latest Best Practice, Shane Burger, principal and director of technical innovation at Woods Bagot, shares how to accommodate digital culture at your workplace so you can keep up with the competition.

Interview Takeaways

Make your data work for you
Modernize your thinking
Build an experience with the client
Prioritize your client’s concerns
Help your people connect
Involve everyone in innovation
Organize your operations
Create a positive community culture
Cooperate to succeed
Prepare for change now
Develop your people’s abilities
Reduce your carbon footprint

Show Links

Connect with Shane Burger on LinkedIn or Twitter
Check out Woods Bagot
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Moody Nolan: How To Launch Operations in NYC (w/ Latoya Nelson Kamdang, Dawne David-Pierre) Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Launching an office in a new city requires a solid operations team and a structured plan for growth. Moody Nolan’s New York City office started with four people just over a year ago and now it has 20. The secret to that fast success? Delivering high-quality projects to the clients you have. It’s the best marketing tool to achieve steady growth. In this Best Practice interview, Associate Principal and Director of NY Operations Latoya Nelson Kamdang and Senior Associate and Project Manager Dawne David-Pierre talked to us about launching operations in New York City and how they’ve grown with excellence.

Interview Takeaways

Focus on the clients you have
Involve PMs from the beginning
Approach each client individually
Offer diversity to a big city
Let the larger firm support you
Justify staff growth
Hire senior-level employees first
Merge design into a business
Use office time to learn each other’s processes
Collaborate in person
Share clients and talent across offices
Communicate when clients’ values are misaligned with yours

Show Links

Connect with Latoya Nelson Kamdang on LinkedIn
Connect with Dawne David-Pierre on LinkedIn
Check out Moody Nolan
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Dattner Architects: How To Build Firm Health And Vitality (w/ Kirsten Sibilia) Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

Midsize architecture firms face unique threats to their longevity compared to small and large firms. Mega firms seem poised to gobble them up, and it’s hard to compete with extra large firms that offer far more services. There’s also the issue of leadership transition. Many midsize firms that started off small and haven’t given enough thought to how they’ll evolve into the future with new leaders. Without a plan, there is no future. But all is not lost. In this Best Practice episode, Kirsten Sibilia, managing principal of Dattner Architects, discusses how midsize firms can do more than just survive. They can grow with health and vitality.

Interview Takeaways

Be proactive against threats to midsize firms
Aspire to a variety of work
Let go of certain tasks in order to grow
Gauge your success with KPIs
Use your website to show who you are
Use your website to amplify your brand
Approach recruitment like marketing
Share information and communication
Recognize marketing’s value
Open up paths for leadership
Create peer connections at larger firms
Define your needs before hiring

Show Links

Connect with Kirsten Sibilia on LinkedIn or Twitter
Check out Dattner Architects
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations: How To Manage A $20B Global Design Program (w/ Angel A. Dizon, III) Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

The idea of a $20 billion budget can make your head spin. But in the right hands, that kind of funding can accomplish a world of good. That’s exactly the mission of Angel Dizon, Managing Director of the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. While the government may get a bad rap from time to time, there’s a steady revolution happening from within the OBO department. Angel joined us on Best Practice to explain how an embassy is so much more than just a building, how his team goes about solving complex problems, and why working in government leads to more opportunity than meets the eye.

Interview Takeaways

Recognize what you can accomplish with a billion-dollar budget
Remember that US buildings are symbolic
The Embassy Effect
Make a positive social impact
Educate others on the true meaning of architecture
Create buildings that can last for decades
Hire people with passion and perseverance
Identify future drivers of the built environment
The professional perks of working for the government
The power of peer-to-peer collaboration
Redefine “good enough for the government”
Seek employees with a good attitude

Show Links

Connect with Angel A. Dizon, III on LinkedIn
Check out the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
Connect with George Valdes on LinkedIn or Twitter
Connect with Chris Morgan on LinkedIn
Check out Monograph
Follow Monograph on LinkedIn or Instagram
Listen and read more about Monograph

SHoP Architects: How To Re-invent What Practice Is (w/ Gregg Pasquarelli) Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

You own your career trajectory. Whatever field you’re in, you have the power to make your work stand out, so clients take notice and want more. It takes a little daring and a strong stomach for risks (and the inevitable failure), says Gregg Pasquarelli, founding principal at SHoP architects. In this Best Practice interview, Gregg explains why as long as you pick yourself up and learn something from every project, you’ll keep advancing your business—and your industry—at the same time.

Interview Takeaways