Читать книгу Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm - Patrick MacLeamy - Страница 48

Storytelling was another important part of HOK culture and can strengthen any company. Just as tribes have told existential stories around the fire for centuries, HOK people told stories as a way of connecting. The senior staff especially loved to tell humorous stories about clients and projects. King Graf, Hellmuth's senior assistant, was one of my favorite storytellers. He told and retold a tale about traveling with Hellmuth to an interview for a new grade school in a little town in Missouri. The interview was held in one of the classrooms. As they approached the classroom door, they heard the school officials interviewing another team, so they sat in the hallway on a couple of tiny chairs, holding their giant portfolios and waiting with their knees up under their chins.

The HOK interview was scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Hellmuth was not a patient person and kept checking his watch. At 7:00 p.m. the other team was still in the classroom, so he went to the door and knocked. Conversation in the classroom stopped for a second, then resumed. Hellmuth waited a moment for someone to come to the door, and then —Blam! Blam! Blam!—pounded on the door. A man from the school district cracked the door open and Hellmuth said, “Our time started five minutes ago.” “Well, please wait,” the man replied, only to be pushed out of the way. Hellmuth suspected the project was wired for another firm, so he strode into the room and declared, “I'm George Hellmuth of HOK and I'm here for an interview. I know we're the best, you know we're the best, so just give us the damned job!” Then he turned and left. At the end of King's story someone always asked if HOK got the job. King would smile and say, “Hellmuth was right—we didn't win that one!”

Hellmuth loved to travel in pursuit of work around the world and loved to tell stories about his adventures. St. Louis was a TWA hub, and he always flew first class on TWA. He was one of their biggest customers and got to know all the flight attendants, then called stewardesses. One day Hellmuth went to TWA and said, “I fly with you all the time, and I want to set it up so that whenever I make a reservation, I always get seat 5B.” The TWA representative said it would wreck their reservation system, but finally agreed that on flights originating in St. Louis, he could reserve seat 5B. As he was leaving, Hellmuth quipped, “And one more thing: make sure it's always on the shady side of the plane.” He was kidding, of course, but was totally serious about hopping on an airplane at a moment's notice to pursue work for HOK.

One Saturday morning in 1968, several of us were working in the St. Louis office when the building began to shake. Most people don't think about the fact that St. Louis is near the New Madrid fault zone, which has produced three of the largest earthquakes in U.S. history. Suddenly, the whole room was in motion and everyone stopped what they were doing—except Chi Chen Jen, an HOK designer who was originally from Taiwan. He knew about earthquakes and was through the door, down the stairs, and outside the building before the rest of us realized it was an earthquake. By the time I looked out the window to see what was going on, he was down on the street, no doubt wondering where we all were. King Graf had been in a bathroom stall when the earthquake hit, and the lights went out. He came out of that bathroom like a shot—trying to pull his pants up!

George Hellmuth and King Graf were not the only storytellers. Paul Watson, the first HOK attorney, liked to tell a story about his first day at HOK. George Kassabaum hired Paul, and, while showing him around, introduced him to Obata, saying, “Gyo, meet Paul Watson, our new in-house lawyer.” Obata looked at Paul, then said, “Lawyer? We don't need a lawyer.” Kassabaum was surprised, and said, “I told you we were going to hire a lawyer and you agreed.” Obata replied, “I'm not sure I'm going to like him, so let's make him temporary.” Paul turned to Obata and said, “Good, I'm not sure I'm going to like you either!” Obata and Watson became good friends after that exchange and worked together for years.

These stories and many others reflect HOK Culture, who we are as people. Lots of them poke a bit of fun in a mild-mannered way. Hearing—and telling—stories like this when we were working late, or on the road, or at the annual barbecue was one more thing that made me feel like part of the family. Even the firm's name became the stuff of stories.