为苹果设计零售店，为Facebook设计总部，建筑师如何赚得第一桶金？

亚瑟·根斯勒（Arthur Gensler）52年前创建了他的建筑设计公司，当时既没有商业计划书，也没有资金。每个星期五晚上，他都会清点手头的现金。在创业的最初阶段，根斯勒每年给自己支付1.44万美元的工资。这家名为晋思（Gensler）的事务所，现已发展成为全球最大的建筑设计公司，尤其擅长室内设计——苹果零售店、Facebook和Airbnb总部的室内设计皆是该公司的杰作。目前参与的项目包括上海中心大厦、阿布扎比金融中心和旧金山国际机场等等。该公司去年斩获13亿美元营收。现已81岁高龄的创始人目前仅担任公司顾问，他很享受这一角色。

从5岁那年开始，我就想成为一名建筑师。我出生在布鲁克林，父亲是一家建筑材料公司的推销员。他教我如何推销，如何与人沟通，并让我懂得了用心服务客户的重要性。

1958年，我以全班第一名的成绩毕业于康奈尔大学建筑、艺术和规划学院。历经52次面试之后，我终于在那家设计帝国大厦的事务所获得了一份时薪2.5美元的工作。当时，我和太太德鲁，以及两个儿子住在皇后区杰克逊高地一间靠近拉瓜迪亚机场的地下室公寓里。

1962年，我们一家搬到旧金山，我在Wurster Bernardi & Emmons建筑设计事务所找到了一份工作。该公司刚刚斩获一份为湾区快速运输系统(BART)设计建筑标准的合同。我被安排加入一个小团队，并最终成为团队主管。

有一天，当我跟一位康奈尔校友喝酒的时候，我得知他需要为刚刚落成的美铝大厦开发租户项目。我随即询问这个租户开发项目的具体要求，然后说，“这事我能做，给我三个月时间。唯一的要求是，我希望你每两周给我开一次工资，因为我现在手头上只有200美元，还要养活一大家子人呢。”

他同意了。我向事务所合作人威廉·维尔斯特解释说，我想创建自己的公司，但没有钱。我问道，“我能不能在早上为你工作，下午干自己的活？”他二话没说就答应了。于是，我就按照这样的安排奋战了三个月。

你必须抓住意想不到的机会，并相信自己具备赌一把的能力。1965年秋天，我创建了M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates公司。我的太太担任办公室经理，我们聘请了一名员工。尽管我没有商业计划书，也没有钱，但我觉得好事将至。

我们租了一间办公室，使用一把丁字尺、几扇用作绘图板的门，坐在木凳上干活。我们依靠薪水度日。我每月从公司拿1200美元。我不喜欢举债，有必要的话，我会一直催促客户——直到他们付钱为止。很幸运的是，现金流没有中断。我迅速地雇佣了两三个人。

一位租户将进驻美铝大厦。我们也将获得开发商支付的款项——我们帮他们做计划以确定租户所需的空间，这有助于双方签署租约。然后，这位租户会聘请我们为他们做室内设计。我们由此结识了一些开发商和房产中介，他们向我们介绍了许多其他客户。

经过一段时间的口碑传播，我们被选中为丹佛银行做室内设计和规划，随后就在这座城市开设了第一家位于加州之外的办事处。很快，我们又接到鹏斯公司的聘书，并在休斯顿开设了另一家办事处。受邀来到一座城市后，我们最终总能在那里建立永久性业务。第一年的收入约为20万美元。

创业一年半后，我终于意识到自己正在经营一家公司，随即前往加州大学伯克利分校学习管理。经过三个星期的夜校学习，我发现我不可能在很短的时间内掌握相关知识。于是，我聘请了一位教授担任顾问。每个星期二晚上，他都会给包括我在内的八九个人上一堂量身定制的管理课。我们获得了一项关于如何经营企业的迷你MBA学位，考试内容都是基于我们公司的实践。

我从1968年开始分享利润，因为我发现，过去的建筑师不得不工作到他们离开人世那一刻。然后在1988年，我们启动了一个员工股权计划。我们通常在圣诞节期间支付一笔相当于两周薪酬的奖金，在六月份支付一笔相当于一个月薪酬的奖金。我们首先向那些最需要钱的员工发放奖金，然后才会考虑高级管理人员。

我们经历过美国经济陷入严重衰退，裁员压力犹如千钧重负的困难时期，但我没有采取任何行动。毕竟，我出生在1935年，那一代人都深谙节俭之道。我们仍然在每个星期五晚上清点手头的现金，所以我们知道银行还有多少存款。

机会随时有可能降临。大约30年前，我受邀在一个会议上发表与设计相关的演讲，在此期间遇到了另一位谈论计算机作用的演讲嘉宾。他叫史蒂夫·乔布斯。经过一番交流后，他邀请我们设计最初的100家苹果零售店。由于我们公司的一位员工受邀为苹果的死对头微软工作，这让乔布斯勃然大怒，他随即解雇了我们。但在他去世之后，苹果公司再次成为我们的客户。

我在创业早期学到的教训之一，发生在竞争对手将我排挤出一个项目的时候。我当时非常沮丧。于是，当这位竞争对手的一位关键员工透露说，他想辞职为我工作的时候，我立即将他招致麾下。事实证明，这家伙只想做大项目，动辄就申请巨额经费开销。我们最终解雇了他。我当初是出于对竞争对手的怨恨雇佣了他，并没有花时间评估。

我学到的教训是，不要在没有进行适当审查的情况下，就匆忙地聘用员工。我们现在恪守着不聘用其他事务所设计师这一规则。人们必须等待一年，并证明他们真正理解了Gensler的公司文化。我们没有明星设计师。所有成员必须为团队的整体利益携手努力。

我非常善于聆听人们的心声，了解他们真正想要的东西，知道应该为他们施加多大的压力。我需要兼顾企业运营和设计工作。伟大的建筑从来都是建筑师、设计师和客户携手努力的结晶。

2010年，我辞去公司董事长一职，并卖掉了我剩余的股权。我早已是耄耋老人，最大的愿望就是看到Gensler成为一家永立潮头的百年老店。我要求其他人也急流勇退，安享退休生活，让下一代早日掌舵。

我很乐意仅仅担任公司顾问。我目前在三家非营利性组织担任董事，仍然忙得不可开交。我热爱工作，喜欢与人交往。我不愿沉溺于往事，我的目光永远注视着前方。

亚瑟·根斯勒|我最好的建议

晋思公司创始人

聆听客户的心声，尊重他们，成为他们值得信赖的顾问。如此一来，他们就会给你带来一单又一单的生意。如果你帮助客户解决他们的问题，你就不仅仅是一位受人之托，替人做事的专业人士。

欢迎人才回归。如果员工离开我们另谋高就，或者因为配偶的工作调动而离职，我们会向那些最有才华的人明确表示，公司欢迎他们回归。当这些员工返回时，我们会给他们赠送一把回旋镖，上面标注着他们起初加入、离职和返回的日期。在我们公司，大约5%的员工都有这样一把回旋镖。

成为一家资源共享，完全透明的公司。我们利用每周一早上的电话会议与47个办事处分享信息。我们从亚洲开始，然后是中东、欧洲和美洲。到当天下午，谈话内容就会被转录给所有人。我们分享资金、人和客户。如果纽约的客户希望在芝加哥完成一份工作，从事该项目的必将是最佳人选，无论他或她供职于哪个办事处。（财富中文网）

译者：Kevin

本文的一个版本刊发于2017年4月1日的《财富》杂志。

Arthur Gensler started his architecture firm 52 years ago with no business plan—and no money. Counting the cash every Friday night, he initially paid himself $14,400 a year. Today the operation now known simply as Gensler is the largest architecture firm in the world, and it’s best known for designing interiors—everything from the original Apple Stores to headquarters for Facebook and Airbnb. Its current projects include the Shanghai Tower, the Abu Dhabi Financial Centre, the San Francisco International Airport, and more. The firm’s revenue last year was $1.3 billion, and the founder, now 81, is happy to just be an adviser.

I’ve wanted to be an architect since I was 5. I was born in Brooklyn, and my father was a salesman for a building-­materials company. He’s the one who taught me how to sell and communicate and the importance of service to the client.

I graduated first in my class at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning in 1958, and after 52 interviews, I got a job for $2.50 an hour with the firm that designed the Empire State Building. Back then, my wife Drue, two sons, and I lived in a basement apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens, near LaGuardia Airport.

I moved my family to San Francisco in 1962 and got a job with Wurster Bernardi & Emmons, which got a contract to do the architectural standards for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. I was put on a small team and ended up running the whole thing.

Arthur Gensler in his office at Gensler’s San Francisco headquarters. Photograph by Winni Wintermeyer for Fortune

One day I was having a drink with a friend from Cornell who needed tenant development work done for the new Alcoa Building. I asked him what tenant development was, then said, “Give me three months to prove I can do it. The only catch is, I need to get paid every two weeks because I only have $200 and I’ve got a family to feed.”

He agreed, and I explained to [William] Wurster that I wanted to start my own firm but didn’t have any money. I asked, “Could I work for you in the morning and work for myself in the afternoon?” He said yes, so for three months that’s what I did.

You’ve got to take unexpected opportunities and believe in yourself enough to take a gamble. So in the fall of 1965, I started M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates Inc. My wife became the office manager, and we hired one employee. I had no business plan and no money but felt something would happen.

We rented a space and used a T square, doors for drafting boards, and sat on wooden stools. At first we were living paycheck to paycheck. I was taking $1,200 a month from the firm. I’m not a borrower and would hound people till they paid me if I had to. We got lucky that the cash flow came through, and I quickly hired two to three people.

A tenant would move into the Alcoa Building, and we’d get paid by the developer for doing plans to determine the space tenants needed, which helped get the lease signed. Then we would be paid by the tenant to do their interior design. We got to know developers and real estate brokers, and they introduced us to other clients.

Word spread, and we were selected to do the interior design and planning for the Bank of Denver, where we opened our first office outside California. Then Pennzoil hired us, and we opened in Houston. We were always asked to come to a town and ended up building permanent operations there. Annual revenue the first year was about $200,000.

A year and a half in, I realized I was running a business and went to the University of California Berkeley Extension. After three weeks of night school, I knew I’d never learn it all fast enough. So I hired a professor as a consultant, and every Tuesday night he would give a tailored session with eight or nine of us. We got a mini-MBA on how to run a business, with exams based on practices at our firm.

In 1968, I started profit sharing because I saw that architects used to have to work until they died. Then in 1988 we started an employee stock ownership plan. We usually pay a two-weeks’ bonus at Christmas and a month’s bonus in June. We pay bonuses to those most in need first, then move up to the senior managers.

We’ve had tough times with major recessions where we had to lay off people and I didn’t take anything. But I was born in 1935; all of us in that generation saved. We still count the cash every Friday night so we know how much is in the bank.

Opportunities can come anytime. About 30 years ago, I was speaking on design at a conference where Steve Jobs was speaking about what computers do. We talked, and he had us design the first 100 Apple retail stores. One of my guys took a job with Microsoft, which offended him, so he fired us. But after he died, we got back in.

One lesson I learned early on happened when a competitor cut me out of a project. I was really upset, and when one of the competitor’s key employees said he’d like to get out and work for me, I hired him. He turned out to be a jerk who just wanted to do big projects and have a big expense account. So we let him go. I had hired him for spite and didn’t take the time to evaluate him.

I learned not to rush into things without proper vetting. We have a practice now of not giving titles for lateral hires. People have to wait a year and prove they really understand the Gensler culture. We don’t have star designers. The team works together for the good of all.

I’m great at listening to people and hearing what they want, knowing how far to push and stretch them. Balancing the organization of business and design is what I do. Great architecture is the result of teamwork between the architect, designer, and client.

I stepped aside as chairman in 2010 and sold my remaining ownership. I’m getting older, and one of my goals was to see the company go on forever. I asked other people to get out of the way and retire as well, to let the next generation take responsibility.

I’m happy to just be an adviser to the firm now. I stay busy by serving on the boards of three nonprofits. I love to work and interact with people. I only look forward. I don’t look back.

Arthur Gensler | My Best Advice

Founder of Gensler

Listen to clients, respect them, and become their trusted adviser so they hire you over and over again. If you help clients solve their problems, you become more than a hired gun.

Welcome talent back. If employees leave us for another job or because their spouse got a transfer, we make it clear to the most talented that they’re welcome back. When people return, we give them a boomerang with their initial employment, departure, and return dates on it. About 5% of our firm are boomerangs.

Be one firm, without silos. We have a Monday morning phone call with all 47 offices to share information. We start with Asia, then go to the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, and the conversation is transcribed that afternoon for all. We share money, people, and clients. If a client in New York wants a job done in Chicago, whoever’s best for the project does it.

A version of this article appears in the April 1, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline "Designing a World Inside."