There’s No Such Thing As an Average Business, Just Average Ways to Do Business没有平凡的企业，只有平庸的经营

比尔·泰勒

The New York Times recently published a fascinating overview of creativity programs and innovation spaces on college campuses across the country.

One of my favorite innovation initiatives1 was one of the simplest. Northwest University has reimagined an old， musty， on-campus parking garage as an incubator space for budding2 entrepreneurs， complete with 3-D printers， interactive screens， and loads of software. Here’s how the Times describes The Garage： “To maintain a sense of the provisional and knockabout， the architects preserved the parking lines on the （cleaned-up） concrete floors and used inexpensive plywood， embellished with spray-painted graphics， for many of the walls.”

Why did I find this particular complex3 so intriguing？ Because， truth be told， I have a soft spot for4 parking garages. In my forthcoming book， Simply Brilliant， I study game-changing leaders who have done extraordinary things in pretty ordinary fields， from retail banking5 to fast-food joints. One of my favorite case studies in the book is a spectacular parking garage in Miami Beach， a complex called 1111 Lincoln Road， that turns one of the most prosaic and overlooked elements of urban life into a high-profile6 brand with a truly compelling presence.

When real-estate entrepreneur Robert Wennett bought the homely space， he decided to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary. His newly reimagined facility opened a few years later to widespread critical acclaim and loud popular applause. One reporter celebrated the new building as a unique work of “carchitecture，” which he defined as “the unimaginable marriage of high-end architecture and car storage.” This was how he described his initial reaction to the place： “Parking garages， the grim afterthought of American design， call to mind many words. （Rats. Beer cans. Unidentifiable smells.） Breathtaking is not usually among them.”

But this parking garage truly is breathtaking， so much so that it has become an in-demand venue for charity events， wine tastings， even fancy weddings. The $65-million structure features exaggerated ceilings， wide-open 360-degree views， no exterior walls—more like a giant loft apartment than a claustrophobic warehouse for cars. A grand staircase maneuvers down the center of the seven-story garage， creating the elegant aura of a European train station. High-end restaurants and boutiques （selling art books， handbags， footwear， high-concept athletic togs7） are arrayed around the outside and on the top of the garage， while a fashion retailer occupies a striking， 1，800-square-foot glass cube on the fifth floor.

In the morning， joggers and power walkers wind their way up and down the ramps8 of the facility， while yoga instructors teach classes on the top floors. Soon after it opened， couples began requesting that they be allowed to hold their weddings there. “The unique thing about 1111 is that it’s really a curated9 space， not just a parking garage with retail，” Wennett explained to me. “It’s more like a cultural building than a commercial building. We actually ‘program’ the building. We help create events that people will talk about.”

For example， in true Miami style， Victoria’s Secret did a commercial shoot directed by Michael Bay， the action-movie legend. Then Moncler， the French-Italian sportswear brand， celebrated its sixtieth anniversary by turning the seventh floor of 1111 Lincoln Road into a Winter Wonderland—in Miami Beach！ “What happens here on a daily basis is like a performance，” Wennett told me. “You find things in places you don’t expect to find them. You have experiences you don’t expect to have. Nothing is what you expect.”

The lesson is as direct as it is disruptive： There is no such thing as an average or old-fashioned business， just average or old-fashioned ways to do business. The thrill of breakthrough creativity can be summoned10 in all sorts of industries and all walks of life if executives and entrepreneurs are prepared to reimagine what’s possible in their fields. In fact， the opportunity to reach for extraordinary may be most pronounced11 in settings that have been far too ordinary for far too long.

It’s even true for parking garages—whether that’s repurposing an old， bland facility to store cars into a buzzing incubator to unleash young， hard-driving entrepreneurs， or transforming the mundane experience of parking into a stylish retail-and-social complex unlike anything the world has seen. How are you doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways？

《纽约时报》最近发布了全国大学校园创新项目和创新空间概览，颇具吸引力。

其中我最喜欢的一个创新方案恰好也是最简单的一个。西北大学把一个有霉味儿的校内老旧停车场重新设计成一个企业家新秀的创新孵化空间，并配备3D打印机、互动屏幕以及大量软件。《纽约时报》这样描述这个停车场：“为了维持一种临时的喜剧感觉，建筑师们保留了（清理干净的）混凝土地面上的停车线，并在很多墙上用了廉价的胶合板，上面还装饰着喷绘图案。”

为什么我会觉得这个建筑特别有趣？实不相瞒，那是因为我对停车场有一种莫名的喜爱。在我的新书《简单的精彩》中，我研究了很多能改变游戏规则的领导人，他们在零售银行、快餐店等非常普通的领域做出了非凡的成就。书中我最喜欢的一个案例研究的是位于迈阿密海滩的一个停车场，那是一栋叫作林肯路1111号的建筑，非常壮观。这个停车场把城市生活中最平淡无奇、最为人所忽视的一个元素变成了一种引人注目、极具吸引力的品牌。

房地产企业家罗伯特·温纳特买下这个普通的地方时，他决定把普通的东西变得不普通。几年后，他重新设计的这个停车场开放启用，受到了广泛赞誉，收获了民众的热烈掌声。一位记者将这个崭新的建筑赞为一件独一无二的“车建筑”杰作，并解释说这是“高端建筑与泊车之间不可思议的结合”。他这样描述对这个地方的第一反应：“停车场在美国是建筑设计好之后才添加的，令人不快，让人联想起很多词（老鼠、啤酒罐、难闻的怪味等），而叹为观止一般不在此列。”

但这个停车场的确是令人叹为观止，且已成为举办慈善活动、品酒会甚至豪华婚礼的热门场所。这栋耗资6500万美元的建筑拥有夸张的天花板和360度的开阔视野，且没有外墙——看起来更像一幢大型的阁楼公寓，而不是让人感到幽闭恐惧的车库。宏伟的楼梯纵贯整个七层停车场的中心，营造出一种欧洲火车站的优雅氛围。高端餐厅和精品店（出售艺术书籍、手袋、鞋履和高概念运动服装等）遍布停车场外围和顶层，而五楼的一家时装零售店竟占地1800平方英尺，且全由玻璃围成，令人震撼。

早上，慢跑和健走的人在停车场的坡道上来来往往，瑜伽教练则在顶层授课。停车场开放后不久，情侣们就开始请求允许他们在那里举行婚礼。“1111号的特别之处在于它确实是一个精心策划的空间，而不只是一个有零售店的停车场。”温纳特告诉我，“它更像一座文化建筑，而不是商业建筑。我们实际上‘规划’了它的建设，并且能协助设计一些能引发话题的活动。”

例如，维多利亚的秘密拍摄了一支迈阿密风格的商业广告，由动作片大師迈克尔·贝执导。之后，法国-意大利运动服装品牌盟可睐为庆祝成立六十周年，在迈阿密海滩把伦敦路1111号的七楼变成了冬日仙境！温纳特说：“在这里，每天发生的事就像一场演出。你会在意想不到的地方有所发现，会有意想不到的体验。这里所有的事情都是意想不到的。”

这其中的经验既直接又极具颠覆性：没有普通或过时的业务，只有普通或过时的经营方法。如果管理者和企业家愿意重新构思领域内可以重构的事物，那么各行各业都可以感知突破性创新带来的兴奋感。事实上，在长期一成不变的平庸环境中，实现卓越的机会可能最大。

对停车场来说尤其如此——无论是将老旧枯燥的车库重新设计成热闹的孵化器来培育冲劲十足的年轻企业家，还是把单调的停车体验改造成前所未有的集零售和社交于一体的优雅建筑。你是如何以非凡的方法做平凡的事情的？

（译者单位：北京航空航天大学）