As a business advisor it is rare to get credit for good advice. It is even rarer to get credit for advice that has a major impact. Most people forget they got advice and assume they would have done the right thing of their own accord. Which may be true. From the advisor's perspective that isn’t how the world looks. We don’t have alternative versions of life so the issue can never be settled.
I bring this up because I just drove from the East Bay back to San Francisco across the very beautiful rebuilt Bay Bridge. Could I possibly deserve some credit for that bridge? I think so.
The architect for the bridge was Donald MacDonald, a client of mine in the 1980s, and also a friend. Donald wanted to know how to get more recognition for his many years of creative work.
I made sure I was right that he had designed many parts of the spaghetti freeway that enters the San Francisco Airport; one of the most attractive freeways I have ever seen. He said, “Yes.” I asked if he had done any other government architecture. He said he had done the pedestrian overpass in Berkeley. Also very attractive.
I said he had a unique talent that virtually no other architects had; the ability to work with governments. Consequently my advice was for him to become a bridge designer. He replied that that field was already taken in the U.S. by Calatrava. I said “no’” there was plenty of room for him. Of course he took my advice.
Donald was noted for being a little tight with money. He often counted the nails on his projects. My bill was $1,500, which he was slow to pay. I went to his office and offered to take a framed drawing of his, on his wall. Which he agreed to. It has been in my living room ever since then.
Years later when he had designed the East end of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, and it was under construction, I suggested that he hire a person to put all the change orders during construction online with a short explanation of the meaning. It would have been an incredible success. He didn’t do it.
Again, do I deserve any credit for that beautiful bridge?