Facebook设计总监：设计师是CEO的好人选

    如果企业开始意识到他们需要更直接地将设计和创造力整合到组织中时，他们应该如何学会做到这一点呢？

    富有创造力的人群的很多特质都没有很好地用于商业环境。一方面，我们总说自己需要创造力。另一方面，人们总是把创造力分门别类，或者人以群分。这样怎么能激发创造力呢？归根结底，它需要在企业的各个层面都聘用专才——也就是有创造力的人。

    你是怎么成为设计师的？

    我的职业生涯路线图是这样的：我在斯塔顿岛长大，小时候就开始画画，15岁就开始创业。我妈当时在岛上的地下室教烹饪，我的画就挂在木头墙板上。她的学生问她，我能不能画画她们的狗。这样，我15岁就开始靠画画挣钱了。一边做自己喜欢的事，一边又能挣钱。我很早就做到了。

    我从来不认为自己是个生意人。后来我为设计师理查德•沃曼工作。后来，我成了一名自由职业者。我开始越来越忙，只好请人来为我工作。我的那个合伙公司开了5年。现在它关门了。1997年我创建了HOT公司，把它发展成了一个拥有75名员工的企业。

    HOT是一家完全独立的公司，没有债务，现金流充裕。它经历过起起落落，差点破产，也生意兴隆过，六年前在纽约开设了办公室。几年下来，它越来越难以保持财务独立，因此我们开始考虑退出策略。

    这就是你加入Facebook的原因吗？

    对设计工作室来说，这是一个“回到未来”的时刻。这些工作室炙手可热。去年10月，我很久以前就认识的Facebook的一个同事问我，是否能推荐几个设计师。Facebook是少数几个一直重视优秀设计的科技公司。他们会像对待工程师和商务专业人士一样平等对待设计师。他们欣赏、尊重人才的核心竞争力和优点。而在设计方面，他们的人手很紧张。我们开始进入Facebook工作时，所有人都感到快乐。我们成了一家能在产品类公司内部工作的创意机构，这是很罕见的事情。11月初，我去跟一个客户见面。Facebook的一个熟人直接从炸嫩马铃薯的盘子上探过头来说，我想问问你对收购有什么兴趣。我可从来没想过这个事儿。

    一周后我收到一封邮件：“谢莉尔•桑德伯格想和你喝杯咖啡，聊一聊。”于是我就去了。到了那儿我就进了一间会议室和马克（扎克伯格）及谢莉尔碰面。他们问了我很多问题。如果有人事先告诉你会和马克•扎克伯格还有谢莉尔•桑德伯格见面，你可能会有所准备。但在Facebook就不是这么回事了。他们表现出来的样子就是，我要问你问题，要和你坦诚交流。一切都自然而然，这确实很奏效。

    二十分钟后我走了出来。当时是11月中旬。1月份我们又进行了一次恳谈，随后在3月份就向外界发布了消息。

    在Facebook工作是什么感觉？

    他们不会太在意头衔，这是我喜欢的另一点。我的头衔是产品设计总监。实际上我工作的小组叫做“平台”，它要处理所有和Facebook相关的体验。

    我的目标是：我想把Facebook的设计打造成业内标杆——帮助整个公司创建团队，让设计师和工程师能更好地通力协作。(财富中文网)

    译者：清远 

    When businesses realize this is something they want to integrate more directly, how do they learn to do this?

    A lot of traits creative people have don't translate well into the business environment. On the one hand, we're saying we need creativity. On the other hand, they're compartmentalizing it or creating stereotypes about people. So how do you incite creativity? It comes down to hiring people -- creative people -- at all levels of the organization.

    How did you become a designer?

    Here's my career map. I grew up in Staten Island, started painting, and became an entrepreneur at age 15. My mom taught cooking classes in the basement in Staten Island, and my paintings were hung up on the wood paneling. Her students started asking if I'd paint portraits of their dogs. I started making money at 15 painting, so that connection between doing what you love and monetizing it came really early.

    I never thought of myself as a business person. I went to work for the designer Richard Wurman. When I went freelance, I was getting busier and busier, and I'd ask people to work for me because I was getting busier. I had a partnership for five years. That ended. I started the company HOT in 1997. I built it to be 75 people.

    HOT was independent. We weren't in debt. We were cash positive. HOT went up and down, survived some busts and booms, and opened a New York office six years ago. Over the years, it becomes increasingly harder to stay independent, and we started thinking about an exit strategy.

    Is that how you came to work at Facebook?

    This is a back to the future moment for design studios. They're hot. In October of last year, a colleague of mine at Facebook who I'd known a long time before asked if I could send some designers. Facebook is one of the few technology companies that always believed in great design. They treat designers equally to engineering, and people who are business-oriented. They appreciate and respect core competencies and strengths in people. They were very understaffed on the design side. When we started working there, everyone was happy. We were an agency that could work inside a product company, which is rare. In early December, I went down for a client interview. Over tater tots, [the Facebook contact] says, Well I wanted to ask you what your appetite is for acquisition. It wasn't even on my radar.

    A week later, I get an email saying, "Sheryl Sandberg would like to have a coffee with you." I go down there. I get shuttled into a conference room with Mark [Zuckerberg] and Sheryl. They asked me a zillion questions. If you were told you were going to meet Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, you'd probably prepare for that moment. It doesn't work that way at Facebook. They're like, I'm going to ask you questions and speak to you really honestly. Intuition kicked in. It was like, this could really work.

    Twenty minutes later I walk out. That was middle of December. We started talking in earnest in January and announced to the world in March.

    What's it like to work at Facebook?

    They're not big on titles at Facebook, another thing I love. My title is director of product design. Basically I work on a group called "Platform," which has to do with all the experiences that connect into Facebook.

    My goal is this: I want to build Facebook's design to be the best model -- help build the team across the company so designers and engineers can work a lot more collaboratively.