The Organizational Leadership problems that architects face — A case study of the Richard Meier sexual abuse scandal.
Introducing the lead actor, Richard Meier
Richard Meier is a celebrated architect and known as the youngest winner of a Pritzker Prize, the most esteemed international prize in architecture honoring a living architect whose built work “demonstrated a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture”. (Pritzker Foundation, n.d.) Richard Meier is what architects often refer to as a “starchitect”, he is a brand and any project with his name on instantly receives an increase in public interest. (Quito, 2018)
In January 2018 Meier in celebration of the 55th anniversary of his practice established a graduate scholarship at his alma mater, the Cornell University’s Architecture School. The scholarship was created to “recruit and retain the most talented women applicants” (Pogrebin, 2018a March, 13). On 13 March 2018 four women who worked for Meier and another who worked with him on the Getty Center in Los Angeles came forward with sexual harassment claims against the architect. (Pogrebin, 2018a March, 13).
The same day the article broke, Meier took a six-month leave of absence from his firm stating, “I am deeply troubled and embarrassed by the accounts of several women who were offended by my words and actions. While our recollections may differ, I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my behaviour.” (Pogrebin, 2018a March, 13).
The office as artefact and stage
Schein (2010) as referenced in van Rooij and Fine (2018) states that organizational culture exists at three levels. The first level is artefacts, this might be observed behaviour, physical environment, its physical style, founding stories and company myths. Using this framework, the artefacts on display at Meier’s office speaks of a very strong persona in charge with an iron grip on control. In a profile-cover story for Graphis Magazine in 1998 written by Alexandra Lange she describes the architect’s office, “And Meier definitely knows how to channel terror. When you step off the elevator into Meier’s Tenth Avenue offices in New York, the wall in front of you bears no corporate logo. Not even a name. It’s merely white. Inside the office, there is one chair for a visitor, set into a gap in the parade of huge white models of Meier’s work. A high white wall blocks any view of the rest of the office. The three employees that can be seen are wearing white and khaki, black and khaki, and black — there’s an informal dress code of this limited palette for days when he is in the office. When the receptionist goes to get a cup of coffee, she returns with it in a Meier-designed teacup.” Lange’s description sets the stage for toxic behaviour that runs deep. (Lange, 2018)
According to Schein’s (2010) framework (as cited in van Rooij & Fine, 2018), the second level is the espoused beliefs and values and at Meier’s office, its architectural design ideology could possibly serve as its value system. Meier in countless interviews expresses his approach to architecture as “the quality of the spaces, the relationship to the context, transparency, lightness, the way the buildings respond to nature and the changing colours of nature. All of these things are a part of my architecture” (Robathan, 2017). Meier also has a deep relationship with the colour white, “White is wonderful because within it you can see all of the colours of the rainbow. The whiteness of white is never just white; it is almost always transformed by light and that which is constantly changing; the sky, the clouds, the sun and the moon.”(Robathan, 2017). Could we conclude that the espoused values are, architectural honesty to form and context and white as a symbol of purity and reflection?
The third level is the basic underlying assumptions, these are deeply embedded principles and values that can determine behaviour perception, thought and feeling. Wilson (2018) describes the architectural industry as one defined by auteurs which he describes as predominantly male, visionaries and unquestionable geniuses. Auteurs are viewed as the single driving force or the author behind a project, the single individual who manages to construct a museum, cultural centre or business tower on their own. Meier is the auteur in the company, always interviewed and profiled alone, receiving rewards on his own, he is the visionary and every employee works to build his legacy.
The soundtrack of silence
In all four incidents of employees (first group of women that came forward) the woman stated that they were asked and expected by management to help the Meier at his home with various architectural related projects. Woman in the office used warnings such as “Just don’t stay in the office late by yourself” between them (Pogrebin, 2018a March, 13). After an incident between Meier and Ms Lee a former communications manager, in 2001, she asked her supervisor if she could be excused from working alone with Meier at his home, her supervisor didn’t ask for details. (Pogrebin, 2018a March, 13). A former employee stated that Meier’s toxic behaviour prompted an underground system in the office that functioned to caution people about what they could expect. (Pogrebin, 2018b 5 April)
After The New York Times article came out on 13 March, four more women came forward (Pogrebin, 2018b 5 April). All four with similar stories and experience with Meier in the office and at his Upper East Side home. Piecing all the stories together it is clear that the firm had a culture where Meier’s behaviour to woman was an open secret that no one took any action to address. A senior associate who was with the firm for 20 years stated, “It’s not something that was a secret” (Hong, 2018). Another former partner who worked at the firm for 12 years stated that he knew that Meier was attracted to young woman and at the end of the workday he would encourage women to leave the office with him (the partner) in order to try and protect them. In defending his inaction, he stated, “I had all the European projects… I had not time to watch what Mr Meier was doing” (Hong, 2018). Common practices within the firm came to normalize Meier’s deviancy and damaging behaviour (which is criminal) and further enabled his rule-breaking through neutralization and silence. (van Rooij & Fine, 2018, p. 9)
In all the cases the woman kept quiet for long periods stating that speaking up didn’t feel like options to them, due to the embarrassing nature of the incidents and fear of losing their jobs, harming their own reputations, career trajectories and the reputation of the firm (Pogrebin, 2018b, 2018a). Ms Bruckner (the incident happened in 1989) who worked at the firm till 1992 describes the predicament accurately, “Its behaviour that goes on for decades and never changes. We don’t go up against the bad guy because it will have a domino effect; if he falls down, everybody else falls down” (Pogrebin, 2018b). This systemized anonymity of people and culture of dominance in the auteur’s orbit works in service of their predatory behaviour.
The support actors
In both the cases of Meier’s personal assistants, Ms Elbogen, (the incident in 2009) and Ms Nathanson (the incident in 1995) they revealed their experience to the management and was later retrenched in what the firm described to both as downsizing. Ms Delgado took legal action in 1992 and received $25 000 and had to sign a confidentiality clause. Ms Zamlich took legal action in 2009 and received a $150 000 legal settlement that also required the firm to hold sexual harassment training. In 2009 after the first two legal cases the COO at the firm implemented a strong sexual harassment policy and implemented sexual harassment training that everyone including Meier attended. Even after the training leadership still turned a blind eye neither actively addressing further claims nor supporting the staff. One of the staff members said that everyone in the firm had a story but everyone said, “Management doesn’t want to hear about it and the best thing is to just move on”. (Pogrebin, 2018b, 2018a). Management learned and supported the idea that sexual harassment is wrong but this message where just for show, it is almost as if the psychology of placing prohibition signs (in this case policy) in the environment where they were clearly violated created continuing offending. (Keizer et al. 2011 cited in van Rooij & Fine, 2018)
The drama unfolds and the audience’s reaction
Following the 13 March 2018 article, the firm released a media statement that praised Meier’s brilliant architectural design and execution as well as his commitment to building and office culture that respects diversity and its motivated staff (Hong, 2018). This was followed by a very swift and urgent restructuring of the company and more media statements. Mr Palladino stepped in as the new leader in the firm stating that “We believe, that woman should feel comfortable and empowered in all workplaces — including ours” (Pogrebin, 2018a). After the second wave of woman came out the firm distanced themselves from what they called “personal allegations” that should not sully the reputation of the firm, “The allegations involving Richard Meier, the most recent of which were nearly a decade old do not reflect the ethos and culture off the firm, and it would be irresponsible to allow these personal allegations to tarnish the company” (Hong, 2018).
In response to the allegations a few well-known institutions reacted as followed:
a. The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects rescinded its 2018 Design Award from Richard Meyer in a statement they explained that the decision is not a reflection on the quality of the projects or the contribution from the design teams. (Keane, 2018)
b. Sotheby’s closed an exhibition of the architect’s work early (Keane, 2018)
c. Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning cancelled plans to rename the chair of the architecture department after Meier. (Keane, 2018)
d. “One United Nations Park” building (formerly known as 685 First Avenue) on New York’s First Avenue, a luxury condo-building removed all mentions of the architect from press clippings, advertising material and the website. (Quito, 2018)
Not long after the allegations became public The New York chapter of the American Institute for Architects, Women in Architecture Committee organized a round table discussion around the topic of sexual harassment. The committee chairwoman was Vivian Lee, the only female partner at Meier’s practice. Creating a conflicting message between the firm’s tone-deaf, media spin reaction and her committee’s declaration for support of victims of sexual harassment. (Lee, 2018)
In an article in February 2019 in The Real Deal (New York Real Estate News) the newly appointed managing principal of the firm, Bernhard Karpf stated “Stepping back does not mean that he is gone, Meier is in the office one to two days a week on average and continues to interact with staff and clients”. In the article Karpf stated that they still attract vast amounts of clients and is still what he claims, doing the great work that they have been doing for 50 years. The article, the only one to be found explaining how the firm will continue focuses strongly on the brand of architecture, the firm’s excellent design reputation and how they will continue to build relationships with clients (Brenzel & Hudson, 2019).There is no mention of a culture change and creating a healthier work environment, in fact, Meier will continue to profit from the firm, while and will stay the majority shareholder and the firm will still bear his name.
The scene is set
A culmination of factors for troubling leadership and organizational values comes into play:
- The cult-like worship of the star architect where staff are willing to sacrifice their integrity because they have been made to believe that this is normal.
- The practice (and this extends beyond the confines of one architectural practice) is set up in a “small business” type environment with no dedicated human resources department. The structure and leadership come from the top already negating the possibility of an equitable working environment, leaving employees with nowhere to turn when management and leadership step over the line.
Architectural practices characterized by starchitects and a brand built on the personality, leadership and influence of the singular principle leader can be described as something similar to the 19th century “great man theory” (Cherry, 2018). Like brands such as Apple, Tesla or Nordstrom, star architects create a cult-like following from clients and the industry which increasingly encourages cult behaviours in the workforce. The culture which can be defined as a “tacit social order” that shapes the norms and defines what is encouraged, accepted or rejected within the group. In cult-like organizations, this culture is singularly defined by the leader. (Manfred & de Vries, 2019)
The degree of control that management has over employees starts during the recruitment process where employees are evaluated according to their “fit” to the company. Systematically the employee gets indoctrinated into a groupthink mentally through incentives, how people communicate and evaluate each other. Cult-companies can also go as far as placing the workplace as a replacement for family and community deliberately limiting contact with their support networks. The workplace does not only become the community but encourages people to centre their lives around their jobs which leaves little time for leisure or vacations. The removal of the individual’s identity is normally seen when everyone starts dressing like the CEO. (Manfred & de Vries, 2019)
Closing Scene, the lead survived
Autocracy is an enduring and celebrated system in the arts. Following the Richard Meier saga, Justin Davidson journalist for Vulture magazine stated, “…architects are neither charlatans nor motivational coaches; they are leaders, and leadership depends on power. True collaboration is as important as it is rare, but the exercise of power still has its place… It can raise a building from a facility into an artwork, or an hour of music from amiable blandness to emotional full immersion.” (Davidson, 2018)
Davidson’s view that “creative” or auteur leadership depends on power is exactly what created the situation at Richard Meier and Partners. Willful bullying, “great man” leader ruled a culture of silence, abuse and intimidation. In all the statements following the harassment allegations not one successor or media correspondent communicated the need for a culture change within the firm. How does one handle an organizational issue so fundamentally ingrained in the cultural identity of the architectural vocation? A systems and design thinking approach will have to be implemented to look at the ingrained values that rule this industry.
After the crisis, it is difficult to state the implications of Meier’s crime, a tarnished firm, a few rewards being receded, a few clients lost. It is difficult to find any direct consequences except for ‘minor’ reputation damage. Meier is 84 this year, his reputation might be damaged but monuments to his legacy are scattered across the globe, he has made fortunes with his brand of all-white modernist architecture. As with most cases regarding harassment, abuse and the effects of toxic organizations the harmed individuals are still the biggest losers.
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