The glossy New York offices of Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group, are a long way from Monte and Avery Lipman's first place of operation. "If you saw my early office, it looked like a boiler room," Monte laughs, as he stands in his office on Broadway near Columbus Circle. "We had this giant rat that used to run around. We were on 45th Street and Times Square, and it became sort of a weird pet thing." Now Monte, the chairman and CEO, his brother, Avery, the president and COO, and Charlie Walk, who joined the Lipmans in 2013 and is the president of the Republic Group, each claim a uniquely decorated office on the eighth floor of the building, all three spaces possessing only two shared qualities: enviable lengths of glass windows and countless pieces of memorabilia from the men's impressive careers working with award-winning multiplatinum musicians.

"The one thing I say to any artist who walks in here is if you want to be the biggest act in the world, you've come to the right place because that's the way we go after it," says Monte. "Whether it's a strategic alliance with [Big Machine's] Taylor Swift, someone like [Cash Money's] Drake, what's happening with the Weeknd right now, and the list goes on and on, we think about that year-round. Who’s the next crop of artists, what the expectations are."

But according to all three men, as much time is spent out of their offices as in them, working on the collective careers of the talent.

"We say you get more done in the hallway than you do sitting in a room full of people," says Avery, who adds that the main structure of their business isn't about back-to-back meetings. "The core of our business it to find artists, sign them, and break them.”

"Every day is different, 365 days a year," says Walk. "Because it's such a fast-moving business. Something that could be the biggest thing tomorrow could happen tonight. A lot of things I've done and actually signed didn't happen here but because I was at the right place at the right time. [The office] allows you to collect your thoughts, but going out allows you to execute those thoughts."

From left: Avery Lipman, Monte Lipman, and Charlie Walk.

Walk's office, the most modern of the three, is also infused with the most personality. Decked out with awards, personal photos, and artwork, the space includes things like a Billboard Music Award for Top Artist given to him by Taylor Swift, a photo of Walk introducing Hailee Steinfeld to the Weeknd, and a personalized piece of art given to him by Peter Tunney ("my Tunney money"). “For me, it was really important that the walls were wooden so it gave it kind of an organic feel and an office look. To me the wood slabs felt barnlike; it made the space feel creative, and I mixed with more modern, minimalistic furniture,” says Walk of his office. “I added this carpet to give it a living room feel." A strategic move on Walk's part: "If you come here and you're an artist or in the creative entertainment space, it shifts your mind-set from corporate. I always say, 'From a corporate to an entrepreneurial vibe.' It feels open and clean and modern, yet that wood brings a feel of organic to it."