亞瑟·根斯勒（Arthur Gensler）52年前創建了他的建筑設計公司，當時既沒有商業計劃書，也沒有資金。每個星期五晚上，他都會清點手頭的現金。在創業的最初階段，根斯勒每年給自己支付1.44萬美元的工資。這家名為晉思（Gensler）的事務所，現已發展成為全球最大的建筑設計公司，尤其擅長室內設計——蘋果零售店、Facebook和Airbnb總部的室內設計皆是該公司的杰作。目前參與的項目包括上海中心大廈、阿布扎比金融中心和舊金山國際機場等等。該公司去年斬獲13億美元營收。現已81歲高齡的創始人目前僅擔任公司顧問，他很享受這一角色。

從5歲那年開始，我就想成為一名建筑師。我出生在布魯克林，父親是一家建筑材料公司的推銷員。他教我如何推銷，如何與人溝通，并讓我懂得了用心服務客戶的重要性。

1958年，我以全班第一名的成績畢業于康奈爾大學建筑、藝術和規劃學院。歷經52次面試之后，我終于在那家設計帝國大廈的事務所獲得了一份時薪2.5美元的工作。當時，我和太太德魯，以及兩個兒子住在皇后區杰克遜高地一間靠近拉瓜迪亞機場的地下室公寓里。

1962年，我們一家搬到舊金山，我在Wurster Bernardi & Emmons建筑設計事務所找到了一份工作。該公司剛剛斬獲一份為灣區快速運輸系統(BART)設計建筑標準的合同。我被安排加入一個小團隊，并最終成為團隊主管。

有一天，當我跟一位康奈爾校友喝酒的時候，我得知他需要為剛剛落成的美鋁大廈開發租戶項目。我隨即詢問這個租戶開發項目的具體要求，然后說，“這事我能做，給我三個月時間。唯一的要求是，我希望你每兩周給我開一次工資，因為我現在手頭上只有200美元，還要養活一大家子人呢。”

他同意了。我向事務所合作人威廉·維爾斯特解釋說，我想創建自己的公司，但沒有錢。我問道，“我能不能在早上為你工作，下午干自己的活？”他二話沒說就答應了。于是，我就按照這樣的安排奮戰了三個月。

你必須抓住意想不到的機會，并相信自己具備賭一把的能力。1965年秋天，我創建了M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates公司。我的太太擔任辦公室經理，我們聘請了一名員工。盡管我沒有商業計劃書，也沒有錢，但我覺得好事將至。

我們租了一間辦公室，使用一把丁字尺、幾扇用作繪圖板的門，坐在木凳上干活。我們依靠薪水度日。我每月從公司拿1200美元。我不喜歡舉債，有必要的話，我會一直催促客戶——直到他們付錢為止。很幸運的是，現金流沒有中斷。我迅速地雇傭了兩三個人。

一位租戶將進駐美鋁大廈。我們也將獲得開發商支付的款項——我們幫他們做計劃以確定租戶所需的空間，這有助于雙方簽署租約。然后，這位租戶會聘請我們為他們做室內設計。我們由此結識了一些開發商和房產中介，他們向我們介紹了許多其他客戶。

經過一段時間的口碑傳播，我們被選中為丹佛銀行做室內設計和規劃，隨后就在這座城市開設了第一家位于加州之外的辦事處。很快，我們又接到鵬斯公司的聘書，并在休斯頓開設了另一家辦事處。受邀來到一座城市后，我們最終總能在那里建立永久性業務。第一年的收入約為20萬美元。

創業一年半后，我終于意識到自己正在經營一家公司，隨即前往加州大學伯克利分校學習管理。經過三個星期的夜校學習，我發現我不可能在很短的時間內掌握相關知識。于是，我聘請了一位教授擔任顧問。每個星期二晚上，他都會給包括我在內的八九個人上一堂量身定制的管理課。我們獲得了一項關于如何經營企業的迷你MBA學位，考試內容都是基于我們公司的實踐。

我從1968年開始分享利潤，因為我發現，過去的建筑師不得不工作到他們離開人世那一刻。然后在1988年，我們啟動了一個員工股權計劃。我們通常在圣誕節期間支付一筆相當于兩周薪酬的獎金，在六月份支付一筆相當于一個月薪酬的獎金。我們首先向那些最需要錢的員工發放獎金，然后才會考慮高級管理人員。

我們經歷過美國經濟陷入嚴重衰退，裁員壓力猶如千鈞重負的困難時期，但我沒有采取任何行動。畢竟，我出生在1935年，那一代人都深諳節儉之道。我們仍然在每個星期五晚上清點手頭的現金，所以我們知道銀行還有多少存款。

機會隨時有可能降臨。大約30年前，我受邀在一個會議上發表與設計相關的演講，在此期間遇到了另一位談論計算機作用的演講嘉賓。他叫史蒂夫·喬布斯。經過一番交流后，他邀請我們設計最初的100家蘋果零售店。由于我們公司的一位員工受邀為蘋果的死對頭微軟工作，這讓喬布斯勃然大怒，他隨即解雇了我們。但在他去世之后，蘋果公司再次成為我們的客戶。

我在創業早期學到的教訓之一，發生在競爭對手將我排擠出一個項目的時候。我當時非常沮喪。于是，當這位競爭對手的一位關鍵員工透露說，他想辭職為我工作的時候，我立即將他招致麾下。事實證明，這家伙只想做大項目，動輒就申請巨額經費開銷。我們最終解雇了他。我當初是出于對競爭對手的怨恨雇傭了他，并沒有花時間評估。

我學到的教訓是，不要在沒有進行適當審查的情況下，就匆忙地聘用員工。我們現在恪守著不聘用其他事務所設計師這一規則。人們必須等待一年，并證明他們真正理解了Gensler的公司文化。我們沒有明星設計師。所有成員必須為團隊的整體利益攜手努力。

我非常善于聆聽人們的心聲，了解他們真正想要的東西，知道應該為他們施加多大的壓力。我需要兼顧企業運營和設計工作。偉大的建筑從來都是建筑師、設計師和客戶攜手努力的結晶。

2010年，我辭去公司董事長一職，并賣掉了我剩余的股權。我早已是耄耋老人，最大的愿望就是看到Gensler成為一家永立潮頭的百年老店。我要求其他人也急流勇退，安享退休生活，讓下一代早日掌舵。

我很樂意僅僅擔任公司顧問。我目前在三家非營利性組織擔任董事，仍然忙得不可開交。我熱愛工作，喜歡與人交往。我不愿沉溺于往事，我的目光永遠注視著前方。

亞瑟·根斯勒|我最好的建議

晉思公司創始人

聆聽客戶的心聲，尊重他們，成為他們值得信賴的顧問。如此一來，他們就會給你帶來一單又一單的生意。如果你幫助客戶解決他們的問題，你就不僅僅是一位受人之托，替人做事的專業人士。

歡迎人才回歸。如果員工離開我們另謀高就，或者因為配偶的工作調動而離職，我們會向那些最有才華的人明確表示，公司歡迎他們回歸。當這些員工返回時，我們會給他們贈送一把回旋鏢，上面標注著他們起初加入、離職和返回的日期。在我們公司，大約5%的員工都有這樣一把回旋鏢。

成為一家資源共享，完全透明的公司。我們利用每周一早上的電話會議與47個辦事處分享信息。我們從亞洲開始，然后是中東、歐洲和美洲。到當天下午，談話內容就會被轉錄給所有人。我們分享資金、人和客戶。如果紐約的客戶希望在芝加哥完成一份工作，從事該項目的必將是最佳人選，無論他或她供職于哪個辦事處。（財富中文網）

譯者：Kevin

本文的一個版本刊發于2017年4月1日的《財富》雜志。

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."