What makes a great client?

As our agency is active in a couple of parallel new business efforts we got around to talking about what makes a great client. We all tossed out some buzzwords and then I recalled an article from the November issue of Harvard Business Review. In the article celebrated architect Frank Gehry provided an excellent response to the question and to balance in the creative process. Here's an excerpt from that article.

You’ve said that one of the reasons the Guggenheim Bilbao is a great building is that you had a great client. What makes a client great?

It’s a collaboration. I’d say it’s 50/50. The client has got to be willing to talk to you. Imagine you get a job with IBM, you’re working with an executive vice president, and he shows the model to the president, and the guy says, “What the f--- is that? That won’t work with my work.” So I only accept jobs where I work with the decision maker.

How do you balance your clients’ desires against other concerns?

The client hires you, so the client is the priority. But you can’t just build a building based on what the clients say, because their vision is based on what’s normal. How do you get out of the normal? You’ve got to question everything. Spend time with the user group. Glean all the information you can. And then throw it all away and begin to play.

How do you go about solving design problems?

I’m like a pussycat with a ball of twine. It goes over there, and he jumps over there. It falls on the floor, and he goes there. I’m opportunistic. Once I understand the problems, I try things. I see what works and what doesn’t, and then I try again. When it looks like something I’ve done before, I abandon it. I have learned to trust my intuition.

Thank you Mr. Gehry for helping us think about and "build"  great client relationships.