Steven Morris of Morris Communication and Peleg Top of Top design met five years ago at a design conference. While drinking a few too many beers by the pool with four other studio/firm principals, they found themselves sharing intimate details about their firms and how they manage their businesses. Today, this self-proclaimed “tribe” conducts its own annual business retreats and nourishes a professional support system they continuously develop. In addition to Morris and Top, the tribe includes Patti Mangan of Imagine That in San Francisco, Erin Sarpa and Ilene Guy of E&I Design in San Jose, and Jerri Hemsworth of Newman Grace in Los Angeles.

SM: One of the interesting things about the tribe is that we are all principals of design firms who have been doing this for 10-plus years and we’ve reached a certain level of both success and challenges. It’s nice that we can share our stories with each other. I think it’s difficult in our industry to create, through potential competitors, the level of trust that we’ve enabled ourselves to create in this group.

PT: We have managed to get over the fear that most designers and business owners carry with them of being friends with your competition. We all believe that there is enough work out there for everybody and we all specialize in different industries, so there is no fear of competition, and we have a nice referral network between each other. We’ve created a family that gives us a sense of belonging, a sense of knowing that there are other studio owners who are going through the same things every day. We are generally so isolated from the outside world that we have no idea other people are going through the exact same challenges, and by talking about these issues with our peers, we’re really able to grow and ultimately improve our work. To me, it’s very important to have that type of network of peers to connect with.

SM: Ultimately I think one of the benefits of the tribe is that we’re in this ongoing collaboration to help each other’s businesses. It’s not about competition. It enables ongoing self-improvement from the perspective of the business owner’s challenges and I think we’ve set up a great platform to enable this personal and business growth. When I have a challenge, I know there’s somebody out there within the tribe—this group of six or seven design firm owners —that has likely faced what I’m facing on some level. To be able to turn to them and say, “Hey, I could use a little help here” is like having a safety net and a board of advisors.

PT: It’s been a rough few years for our industry. How do you prepare for the ups and downs of an unstable business climate?.

SM: I don’t know that you can completely prepare for this. I think it helps to have a well-positioned, well-structured firm that has a strong reputation. The reality is that you have to be a smart businessperson, and most designers are not trained to be businesspeople. Some designers who happen to own businesses have a very good innate or intuitive sense of what it means to be a good businessperson. They’ve learned through many years of practice. Most of us don’t enter the industry with MBAs, but through the years we’ve earned street MBAs, especially as it’s focused on our industry.