5 Lessons My Architect Father Taught Me About the Ad Business

My father's passing last week has given me a moment to reflect on his contributions to my business life.

Everyone’s parents have a profound impact on their lives, and mine is no exception. I grew up in an architect’s family. Dinner time conversations were often centered around my father’s latest project. After dinner, I would sometimes accompany him back to his office in the evening when he would do much of his drawing. I would sit at an empty drafting table and do my homework while he busily sketched drawings. I also worked at my father’s office during the summer until I went to university.

 Holidays in an architect family were unique. While my friends spent time at the lake cabin or took a Yellowstone trip, we drove to big cities to look at great buildings. To my father, the architects of these buildings were like rock stars, and we would name the buildings after them. We rarely took family photos on these trips because we were too busy helping my father take pictures of the buildings.

Even as early as elementary school, we all knew the iconic greats: Philip Johnson, IM Pei, Frank Gehry, Mies Van De Rohe, and of course, my father’s idol, Frank Lloyd Wright.

After years of indoctrination into the architecture world, many people were surprised to learn that I didn’t follow my father’s footsteps. There’s a good reason for this: I grew up with greatness, and I knew I didn’t have the talent to achieve it.

 But my father impacted me in other ways. After a celebrated career as an advertising executive in Asia, I have my father’s legacy to thank for many of my accomplishments.

 So, I would like to share with you some of those lessons that I learned from him:

1. “Be a Big Fish in a Small Pond”

 It was the reason in the 1950s that my Dad returned to South Dakota from California to set up his own shop that always influenced me. While many of my university classmates found employment close to home, I chose to take a risk and work abroad. Even when I had opportunities to return home after I got to Asia, my father encouraged me to stay here. “Why be a nobody in a big company when you can be a somebody somewhere else?”, he told me.

2. “The Job Isn’t Done Until the Building is Finished”

Contractors would often tell me that my father was one of the few architects who would regularly visit construction building sites.  He taught me to be hands-on and always go the extra mile to ensure the customer is 100% satisfied.

3. "Always Respect Your Colleagues, Partners, and Clients”

My father’s big secret to getting new projects was not only because he was talented.   More importantly, he was a decent, trustworthy, and all-around friendly guy that people enjoyed being around. Suppliers and contractors would do favors for him and even refer him to jobs simply because they liked him.

4. "Architects Live for the Recognition of Being Great"

It's one thing to be behind the creative process of an award-winning television ad that has a 1-month shelf life, but it's another to be behind an award-winning building that might last for 50 years. Architects like my father aren't always humble, and to feed them requires a lot of care and attention. Awards are an important part of it.

 5. “Love Your Job, and You’ll Have a Great Life.”

My father didn’t practice a work/life balance. He practiced a work/life integration! He always told me that life itself would be meaningless if you didn’t love what you do.

My father once said that his buildings are his legacy to his grandchildren, but he gave them a lot more than that. And the reality is that some of my father’s buildings will eventually be torn down and replaced with new ones. But the memory of how they got there in the first place will always live on in me.