For Chicago-based designer Bruce Fox, leaving a junior partnership at another firm six years ago was the move that changed everything. Stepping into the spotlight and putting his name—and his name only—on the door unlocked a new level of creative freedom, personal fulfillment and business success.

Bruce FoxCourtesy of Kendall McCaugherty ©Hall+Merrick Photographers

Was there something you had to change to help yourself spring ahead in your career?
I was in a business partnership, but I was not an equal partner. What changed everything was ending that partnership and putting just my name on the door. It went from Fox and somebody else—Wells and Fox—to Bruce Fox, and the psychology of that was huge. When you’re like, “Oh, it’s me—it’s my name on the door,” you act differently.