Voices of Design Leadership. Ken Sanders

       Photo Credit: Perkins&Will

      To me, one of the things I like best about my position – and I consider myself super lucky to be in this position – is that we actually do things. We don’t sit around complaining and wishing the world were different. If we want something to change, we just go change it. And that happens not months later; it happens the next day.

Introduction

      Founded in 1935, Perkins&Will is the second largest design firm in the world with 25 offices spanning seven countries. The firm’s 2,200 design professionals provide services in architecture, interior design, branded environments, urban design, and landscape architecture, applying a design philosophy focused on human-centered design, health, and well-being, as well as sustainability and resilience. Social responsibility is also a key part of the firm’s culture, and each year Perkins&Will donates 1% of its design services to pro bono initiatives and projects.

      From the firm’s public website, “We’re dedicated to creating environments where people live happier, healthier lives. To working collaboratively with our clients – engaging, listening, questioning – until, together, we exceed expectations. This is how we define design excellence.”

      In 1986, Perkins&Will was acquired by Dar Al-Handasah, a privately owned international consulting firm headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon; it is now part of a global network of companies known as Dar Group. Some of Perkins&Will’s well-known sister firms include engineering firm T.Y. Lin International (infrastructure engineering), project Currie & Brown (energy), Penspen (project management), Integral Group (MEP and energy engineering), Landrum & Brown (aviation planning), Ross & Baruzzini (technology and security systems), and others. As of this writing, Dar Group has 297 offices in 60 countries and over 18,600 employees.

      Phil Harrison has led Perkins&Will as CEO since 2006, overseeing the firm as it tripled in size, expanded into new geographies, and strengthened its commitments to design excellence and research. Some of the firm’s growth has been organic and some was achieved through acquisitions. Perkins&Will owns a number of firms it calls “partners,” which have retained their own brand identity. They include London-based Portland (branded experiences), Nelson/Nygaard (mobility), and Pierre-Yves Rochon (hospitality).

      In addition to the work Phil discusses in his interview, the firm’s portfolio of award-winning projects includes Shanghai Natural History Museum in Shanghai, China; BMW Site Operations Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina; University of Ottawa STEM Complex in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and Northwestern University Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center in Chicago, Illinois.

      I’ve personally known Phil Harrison for over a decade, primarily through our involvement in the Design Futures Council, where we both serve as Senior Fellows, as well as the AIA Large Firm Roundtable. He is an articulate, high-energy, and action-oriented leader. Born in Switzerland, Phil’s background in the arts – painting, sculpture, film, and philosophy – are paired with a strong aptitude for business strategy and organizational design.

      Phil’s leadership impact at Perkins&Will since his arrival over twenty-five years ago is an excellent case study in how to strengthen and grow a global design firm. In his interview, he discusses the importance of servant leadership, the synergy of integrating good business and good design, the art of acquisitions, and the importance of work/life balance. Phil also shares several recent projects of which he is particularly proud, and that exemplify the firm’s environmental and human-centered design aspirations.

      Interview

      Ken Sanders: Phil, congratulations on your 15th anniversary as CEO. You joined Perkins&Will in 1993, is that right?

      Phil Harrison: I joined Nix, Mann and Associates in '93, which was then acquired by Perkins&Will in '95. I was grandfathered in, back to '93. I mean, there’s always this question of longevity and tenure when firms merge.

KS: And when Perkins&Will acquired that practice, were you part of that conversation?

      PH: Indirectly. I’ve got an interesting history there. If you know Hugh Hochberg,¹ he tells this story and you may have even heard this story. He claims a lot of credit for my career, which he probably deserves.

      In the spring of ‘95, at a Partner’s retreat of Nix, Mann and Associates, they were struggling with leadership succession planning. They had realized at the time that they had wonderful people as Associates, but not the future leaders – the people to replace themselves. Which is a common situation, a classic second-generation problem.

      And Hugh convinced them to take a bold step, which was to remove the Associate titles from the Associates – I think at the time about eight people – and to appoint two partners-in-training, myself and one other person. That happened in early ‘95. They went on a ski trip and came back and that was a pretty seismic event. I had just been designated into this weird new role of PIT, or partner-in-training, which people laughed about. It sounded like training pants or diapers or something like that.

      Not that long after that tumultuous moment, which ruffled quite a few feathers, Perkins&Will came and proposed to acquire the firm. I was not an owner, but I’d been thought of as a future leader. Because of that situation, the two main partners, Henry and Lewis, came to me and said what do you think about this idea? We don’t want to do this if you and the other partner-in-training don’t think it’s a good idea. If you think it’s a good idea, we think it’s a good idea. We’d like to sell to Perkins&Will. So I was in consultation, but I really had no vote because I wasn’t an owner.

      KS: And then a decade later you were invited to become CEO, right?

      PH: It was a two-stage acquisition. The first stage was a 51% and the second stage was 49%. And for the first five years, not very much happened. But in 2000, once they finished the second stage, Henry Mann was appointed CEO of all of Perkins&Will. Once he became CEO, I took over the leadership of our Atlanta studio. And then he appointed me President in 2003 and then CEO in 2006. When he became CEO, he said “I’m going to do this for five or six years, but I plan to retire and you need to take over when I’m done. So just watch everything I do.”

      KS: So you knew five years before you would take over that role. You had a chance to shadow him, watch him, learn from him.

      PH: Yeah. It was quite an intense five- or six-year period because Henry was a wonderful leader and a very charismatic person, but also sort of a seat-of-the-pants kind of a manager. I wouldn’t call him impulsive, but he would make quick decisions, for example calling me late the night before saying, “Phil, just so you know, we’re going to Minneapolis tomorrow morning. I’ll pick you up at 6:15 to catch the early flight.” And it’s a day trip, you know?

      It was an exhausting internship, if you will, because of Henry’s work style, and I had young kids at the time. Those were challenging years, but I learned a ton from him. It became more evident to other people that I would succeed Henry as time went on. It took some years for that to happen,