David Koren

Gensler Goes Ghetto

After Gensler's graffiti wall featured on the cover of September's Interior Design magazine (along with a great internal spread) the next piece of news that I hear from my Gensler alumni network is this youtube link that is making the rounds. It's an internal video that one of the creators seems to have posted to youtube.

Why I Work for Gensler

It's 10pm, on a Friday. I just got home from work. And I'm happy about it. What the hell is wrong with me? Well, I tend to work late on Fridays, to catch up on all the stuff hanging over my head so that I can NOT work on Saturdays or Sundays. So here I am, just arrived home, with this feeling of satisfaction at having completed about 80 little tasks that had been hanging over my head since yesterday or earlier.

On the walk home, I reflected on why, exactly, I do this. Why do I work for Gensler? Why do I have the job I have? I've got a BFA in playwriting, and an MPhil in Irish theatre studies. What the hell am I doing working for an architecture firm, as director of marketing. I don't have any training in either of those areas. But, yet, working for architects, and this firm in particular, to help them utilize language and information to make their business better and, ultimately, to make the world a better place, is a shockingly good fit for me. On some days, it's a perfect fit. On some days, it's less perfect. But I still can't imagine a job, for a company (as opposed to working for myself as a stressed-out, client-hungry consultant) that I'd rather have.

Ok, I'll say it. I love Gensler. Jesus, doesn't that seem weird? I had a girlfriend once (when I first started working at Gensler, if anybody's keeping track) who viewed Gensler as some kind of rival for my affections. I'd come home from work, talking about some project I've been working on to win a project to transform Times Square into a more experiential kind place (Toys "R" Us) and she would say something like, "It's always Gensler Gensler Gensler! They own you!"

But the fact of the matter is, it's the other way around. I own Gensler. At least, I own Gensler stock. But more than that, I'm a contributor. I'm an active participant in the collaborative development of this thing called Gensler. It's mine. If I walk out the door tomorrow, something will change at Gensler. I'd like to think it will be less of a great place without me... but the truth is, at the very least, it will be different. I'm part of it. (I can hear my ex in my head: "And it's a part of you... a BIG part of you!")

So what's so great about Gensler? Why can't I think of a better place for me to work? Let me give you a few points...

1. Professionalism

When I was new at Gensler, my boss, Joe Brancato, lent me his copy of David Maister's True Professionalism to read. What? Professionalism? This is the book you want me to read? What are you trying to tell me? But as I started to read the book, I realized that Joe was just trying to clue me in to one of the secrets of Gensler, and actually, if David Maister is to be believed, of success in business--that behaving like a caring, compassionate, and well-behaved human being is a good thing, and that it makes you more successful, not less. Gensler ACTUALLY does this. I shit you not. We don't get into thorny ethical issues. We don't compromise the integrity of one client relationship for another. We walk away. We don't sign contracts that are attempts by big corporations to screw us, make us liable for their mistakes, or make us "their bank" by delaying our payments. We just don't.

2. Collaboration

That's a big word, collaboration. Everybody (at least in the design/professional services world) uses it. But what does it really mean? It means that we're working TOGETHER on this thing. I'm not taking your orders. I am not your monkey. We are partners. You value my input and I value yours. Ok, so I'm a marketer. Unfortunately, in most of the architecture/engineering/construction world, that means I do the copying and lick the stamps (forget that nobody really needs to copy OR lick stamps anymore). At Gensler, whatever I offer is received and valued. I partner with design teams to bring in projects. Marketing is not a support function, folks, it's a strategic function.

3. The People

I used to work in companies where I had no idea how half the people around me got hired. Now, I work for a company where I look around, I see their faces, I look into their eyes, and I know. They're us. They fit the profile. They're mentally curious, they're incredibly smart and incredibly talented, they're diligent, they're emotive, they're good communicators. Not to say people don't behave badly once in a while, or fuck up, or say stupid shit. It happens everywhere. But, to a person, I work with the greatest group of design-oriented folks ever assembled. I'm serious. And there's very little ego involved (see collaboration above), which is VERY unlike most architect's offices.

4. The Potential

We are in the process of changing the world, one building at a time, one office at a time, one store at a time, whatever. When I'm feeling cynical about it, I say to myself, "Oh great, another store to buy jeans. Big deal!" But it isn't that simple. Things changes in two ways--in increments and in revolutions. Incremental change may involve creating a store in which the customer is more the focus, rather than the product. That's better, right? That's a step in the right direction, isn't it, a step toward not just the store, but the entire socio-economic framework geared toward people? Argue with me if you want, I hold that we are making the world better by improving its physical reality, and that is the true mission of the organization I work for.

5. Art

Not artwork, but Art Gensler. The man is amazing. Somebody described him to me recently as somebody that ANYBODY can get into the elevator with and feel better about themselves and life in general when they get out of the elevator. Art's a big lanky 70 year-old who started a company 40 years ago (at 30!) with a crazy idea that turned out to be possibly the best positioning statement in design history: that his firm would focus not on the outside of a building (like most architects) but the inside. And thus was born the interior design professional. But that wasn't enough for Art. "Retail? Sure, we can do that!" "Airports? I spend a lot of time in airports. I can design them!" And on and on, to 28 offices, 2000 people, projects around the world. What makes Art so great? (a) He's just a guy, (b) He actually (for real) cares about you, (c) He's smart as hell, in a homey kind of way, and (d) He thinks he can do anything.

So what happens when Art retires? The world ends, in a quick but painful explosion reminescent of the end of the second Planet of the Apes movie. NO NO NO. I'm kidding. It goes on. George Washington died, remember? It took a LONG time for us to get George W. But that's another story, for another post...

Gee, this sounds like a cult, doesn't it? (The ex-girlfriend: "You've been brainwashed!")

Well, in some future post, I'll talk about why the successful companies of the future will actually look a little (or a lot) like cults. For now, let's just say that I'm out. I love Gensler. Even when I complain about it. Even when somebody fucks up in a way that creates agita for me, or makes a decision that I don't agree with. I still love the place. Leave? And go where? There's nowhere like it.