Architecture & Engineering Business Strategies

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.

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


What is Architecture & Engineering Business Strategies?

Welcome to A/E Business Strategies — a podcast hosted by Monograph about architecture and engineering leaders who run great firms. Monograph is a project management software built exclusively for A/E. Over 1,000 firms use Monograph to get clarity into their budgets, projects, time, and clients so their entire team can make smarter decisions. Get started today at Monograph.com