Brent Zeigler, Dyer Brown Architects

Lists are everywhere. No matter the industry, companies are constantly being ranked…biggest, most profitable, most respected, fastest growing…the list of lists goes on and on. As a growing (and driven) architecture and interior design firm, Dyer Brown wants to be on those lists. Who wouldn’t? It’s an opportunity for publicity. It strokes our ego and tells us that we are doing something right. But, what does it mean to our clients?

At our internal marketing and PR meetings, we regularly look at the upcoming awards submissions and discuss the merits of each. We understand that committing to a submission will take time and effort that could be focused elsewhere. One of the many requests that we respond to annually is Interior Design’s “Giants” list. While this may not be seen by too many of our clients, it helps us gauge how we are doing relative to the market and to our competition.

In July of this year, we were informed that we had been ranked #12 on Interior Design’s 2016 Rising Giants list. This was a jump of 15 spots from our 2015 ranking at #27.  We were ecstatic! It was a big company morale boost and gave us what we needed…affirmation.  We were doing something right. It did stroke our ego and it was great! As the glow of the good news began to fade, we started asking ourselves: Should we publicize this to our clients? Do they really care? Why should they care?

What we came to is the following: our clients should care. First, this recognition is an indication of an ever growing level of expertise. The more and wider variety of projects that we touch; the more we learn. The more we learn; the more valuable a partner we can be to our clients in the process of helping them realize their goals. Secondly, this growth and volume of work provides us with greater resources. As a firm with greater resources, we are able to reinvest these resources to offer a wider spectrum of services to continue to elevate the level of work that we do for our clients.

As I continued to reflect on this issue and these questions, it suddenly became clear to me why it should all matter. As part of a recent tune-up of our Dyer Brown Strategic Plan, we crafted a Vision Statement that describes us as a robust, innovative, and nationally recognized design firm. The part of this statement that generated the most discussion internally was the word “robust.” Should it be “prosperous” or “thriving” or “stable” or “flourishing”? We tried them all, but none of them seemed to fit quite like robust. The recognition that Dyer Brown was ranked #12 on Interior Design’s 2016 Rising Giants list is a testament to the fact that we are robust…and our clients do care.

Brent Zeigler is president and director of design at Dyer Brown Architects, Boston.