by Stephen Kliment, FAIA, reprinted from the IOMA Principal’s Report

Architects’ past track record of leadership is what prompted Richard Swett, FAIA, to write with Colleen Thornton Leadership by Design: Creating an Architecture of Trust, a book that helps architects and engineers gain a stronger voice in public policy. A/Es must learn to apply the elements of the design process they learned in school and during daily business practice to the challenges of leadership, says Swett. Otherwise, they risk being overlooked at the decision making that shapes public policy at all levels of government.

Swett began his professional life as an architect, served two terms as a U.S. congressman from New Hampshire (1991–1995), and later became the U.S. ambassador to Denmark. He has since returned to architecture. As the only architect to serve in Congress during the 20th century, and as one of the few architects to represent the U.S. overseas since Thomas Jefferson served in France (1785–1789), Swett has an understanding of how A/Es can attain leadership roles.

How the design process begets leadership. The design process involves these steps: Define a problem and identify and explore the means available to solve it; determine and document alternative solutions; and select the solution that best meets the constraints of time, funding, and quality. A good leader:

• Uses the design process as a model that allows all parties to participate, thereby strengthening the chances of a successful solution
• Has the broad reach of a professional who can master design and technology and manage what is being built
• Has the vision to design first what is to be done and then express it plainly to others
• Knows himself or herself; understanding power and the desire to serve stem from inner knowledge.

Getting it to work for you. “Identify issues or projects that can be acted upon in tangible ways within the sphere of your daily life,” Swett urges. “Don’t be cramped by the superfluous activities and distractions that . . . impinge on your time. Rather, [rank] those things that are most important to you.” Lastly, he says, “define for yourself the boundaries of the community you wish to serve.”

Swett chides A/Es for having “Slowly surrendered their position as the executives of the building process,” leading to where “the status of the architect changed from the leader of the building team to just the designer on a team of building experts.” He cites business leader Robert Greenleaf’s 10 traits of so-called servant leaders, which create a rather irresolute public perception of a firm’s leadership.

Beyond the building team. Swett’s vision for design professionals as leaders goes beyond leading the building team. For a selection of individuals Swett believes exemplify strong leadership, power, and accomplishment, he offers 10 examples of architects who led: Georg Carstensen (1812–1857), Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903), Richard Morris Hunt (1827–1895), Frank Furness (1839–1912), William LeBaron Jenney (1832–1907), Detlef Lienau (1832–1907), Alfred Tredway White (1846–1921), William J. Fryer Jr. (1842–1907), Florence Hope Luscomb (1887–1985), and Harvey Gantt (1943–).

The Union League Club, founded in 1863, is one example of a leadership center where architects and engineers joined with other professionals to deal with national and local social and political issues. It was “surely one of the most successful [organizations] mobilizing and directing with extraordinary speed many of the most influential, highly talented men and women of its generation,” says Swett. The club served as “a powerful civic, political, and cultural machine,” achieving for its members an influence far beyond their own vocation, and repositioning “the architectural profession . . . freeing it from the narrow confines of art history’s specialized context and bringing it into the broader plane of American civil and political life.”

Learning the political process. Using as a model the successful launching of the first New York City building code, Swett spells out five basic political principles for A/Es who aspire to leadership:

1. Learn how to write a good law. Policymakers know that typically, “killing a poorly conceived and/or badly written law is preferable to passing it.”
2. Know all the interested parties, including lawmakers and their political stands. Study the effect of existing laws and prevailing attitudes in areas where a new law would apply.
3. Don’t put all your political eggs in one basket. Adds Swett: “Attempt to form alliances with all the stakeholders, rather than view all other interests and opinions as merely opposing.
4. Learn from failure. “To miss the critical value of self-analysis by blaming the opposition for your failure only sets you up for your next defeat.
5. Be aware that getting a law passed the first time is the exception, not the rule. Never give up. Remember: It took 12 years to get the final 1892 New York City Building Law on the books.

Leadership and 9/11. Strong leadership would have helped A/Es who were involved in designing the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Swett believes they should have concentrated on integrating physical design, political and economic reality, and cultural and civic ideals, instead of focusing on elaborate physical design presentations to win a stronger leadership position. Swett faults the profession for “failing to comprehend” this difficult task and for not summoning “the creative wisdom necessary to generate adequate solutions.”

Conclusion. “In a time when it seems that unbridled selfishness and narcissism run amok in contemporary society, the good leader should not be a superstar but rather a star citizen who speaks truth to power,” argues Swett. “Most important, the leader should . . . accept the consequences of his or her actions.”

Leadership by Design is a rare look at the politics of leadership and highlights the elements of an A/E’s training that are natural tools for success. It chronicles the design profession in the U.S. through the actions of the few who achieved leadership beyond their own vocation.

copyright 2005 The Institute of Management & Administration, Inc.
Reprinted with permission.

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