From the street below Nancy Aber Goshow's Manhattan architecture office, horns honk and sirens cry. At eye level, a window washer in a hard hat descends slowly, suspended, his squeegee clearing her view of the tall buildings nearby.
Goshow, managing partner and co-founder of Goshow Architects, is fluent in the physics of those buildings, among other laws and regulations upholding the city. But she lights up most when discussing her company's mission, values and methods for managing consistent 10 to 15 percent annual revenue growth. With about $5 million in sales and 30 employees, the firm has rebounded financially from the nationwide economic fallout of 2008, when they had to cut 20 of 50 staff positions.
Goshow architects co-founder and managing partner Nancy Goshow
Co-founded in 1978 with her architecture and design partner Eric Goshow (who is also her husband), the firm operates from principles of social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Natural lighting, eco-friendly materials and energy-efficient systems characterize Goshow projects everywhere, whether high-end residential buildings along New York City's elevated High Line park, or the recent $68 million modernization of a federal building complex in San Juan, Puerto Rico. But by design, most of their work is local. "We've renovated more than 100 New York City public schools in the past 20 years," Goshow says with pride.
Most of Goshow Architects' 10 to 20 new projects a year focus on higher education. In the New York City borough of Queens, the firm finished phase one of two for the Queensborough Community College Science Building Atrium in 2016. The community gathering spot has an innovative translucent roof made of pillowed ETFE film, a durable, high-insulating plastic.
—Nancy Goshow, co-founder and managing partner, Goshow Architects
"We try to do projects that are mission-driven," says Goshow. "Public education and community colleges in particular are very important to us. With classes on evenings and weekends, they provide opportunities for women and minorities to be educated and better their lives. They're also a major funnel into the city university system."
In managing 40 or so concurrent projects, some stopping and restarting over many years, Goshow has learned to keep constant financial score. "To succeed financially as a mission-driven company, you have to be extra diligent about money in and money out, from lead to close," she says. "When a project doesn't make sense financially, you have to turn the other way."
The firm manages about 40 concurrent projects.
As a leader in professional, civic and small-business organizations including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Women Builders Council (WBC), Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), and Women Presidents Organization (WPO), Goshow is vocal about female architects' accomplishments and challenges in a male-dominated field.
"We haven't come as far as we would have liked to by now, but there are more opportunities for women-owned businesses than in past," she says. "Most are in the public sector." Her firm's breakdown of work—80 percent public projects, 20 percent private—reflects the impact of city, state and federal programs designed to support companies with Women-Owned Small Businesses certification through the government contract bidding process.
"These set-asides help level the playing field for competitors on equal footing—those similar in size and past performance," she says.
The company works on about 80 percent public projects and 20 percent private projects.
In submitting contract application paperwork on deadline, and in everything they do, accountability is key for Goshow partners and employees at every level. That's why, 18 months ago, they began to follow a program called EOS (Entrepreneur's Operating System), which builds on two books by Gino Wickman: Traction and Get a Grip.
"It organizes all of us into thinking about strategic planning every day," says Goshow, admitting that her firm's strategic plans used to sputter out after a year. "Every week now, four or five of us on the leadership team look at strategies and tactics in a 90-minute meeting."
Each week, members of the company's leadership team hold strategic planning meetings.
With support from a certified EOS facilitator, the system helps the company plan, prioritize, follow processes, communicate, measure results and structure and clarify roles. “People who don't embrace accountability might not be in right role or might not be a fit for the company," says Goshow, who hires and fires based on the firm's core values: teamwork, integrity, problem-solving and self-starting. "Everyone on staff has to be rowing in the same direction. You need people who want to raise all boats."
She discovered the system through a speaker at a retreat for the cross-industry Women Presidents Organization. With her collaborative and curious nature, Goshow thrives on building relationships and sharing advice. Over time, some of those friendships have led to repeat customers. "Eighty percent of all business comes from twenty percent of customers," she says. "Relationships are very important."
Goshow speaks with job captain Elizabeth Claassen.
Through rigorous study and adherence to weekly routine, Goshow creates a structure which allows creativity to breathe and thrive. That spacious breeziness for which her work is known—the natural light, clean lines, healthy air quality, and overall sense of well-being—in reality, that's all hard earned.