July Recap: You shouldn’t be the best in the room

For a profession that’s built on collaboration, we designers spend an awful lot of time trying to do everything ourselves.

We learn to draw, we learn construction, we answer plumbing questions, solve electrical problems, manage schedules, source products, build presentations, run businesses, market ourselves… and somewhere along the way, it’s easy to believe our value comes from being the person with all the answers.

Lately I’ve been reminder that our greatest value isn’t what we know, but who we get to work with.

It really clicked for me during our conversation with Linette Dai on Episode #186 of Hot Young Designers Club. She described it as a privilege to work with people who are truly exceptional at what they do. Not just to hire them or manage them, but to stand alongside them and watch them practice a craft they’ve spent decades perfecting. I haven’t stopped thinking about that!

Some of my favorite moments on a project don’t happen in front of AutoCAD or during a client presentation. They happen in a fabrication shop when someone who’s worked with stone for thirty years points out something I would’ve never considered. Or on a jobsite when a finish carpenter quietly solves a detail that’s been bothering me for weeks.

Those moments remind me that I don’t want to be the expert at everything.

I want to be surrounded by experts.

I think that’s one of the quiet privileges of this profession. We get a front-row seat to people who have dedicated their lives to becoming incredible at one thing. And if we do our jobs well, we get to introduce our clients to those people, too.

In a world that feels increasingly automated, disposable, and optimized for speed, interior design is still wonderfully human. It’s built on relationships, trust, and craftsmanship. Every beautiful project is really a collection of talented people leaving their fingerprints on something they’ll probably never take credit for.

Maybe that’s part of our role as designers. We’re not just creating beautiful spaces, but championing the people who make beautiful spaces possible.

As my experience as a designer has grown, I’m less interested in whether I am the smartest person in the room. I’d much rather be the person who gets to fill the room with extraordinary people.