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Huckabee employees last year celebrating the firm’s 50 th anniversary.
Conference call: Christopher Huckabee CEO of Huckabee (Hot Firm # 7 and Best Firm Architecture #3 for 2018), a 300-person architecture firm based in Fort Worth, Texas.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
“F or us, diversifying is a bad thing,” Huckabee says. “We do one thing. We do it well. We are growing substantially and our diversity has been in two areas: geography and building a higher-end portfolio.” A CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTOPHER HUCKABEE. The Zweig Letter: The talent war in the A/E in- dustry is here. What steps do you take to create the leadership pipeline needed to retain your top people and not lose them to other firms? Chris Huckabee: This is so important. I spend most of my time in this area. We’ve created a cul- ture where people want to stay their whole life. For the younger staff, there’s a program called ACE (Achieving Company Excellence). It’s a two-year po- sition that provides people with leadership respon- sibilities. There’s also Camp ACE where the com- pany closes for three days in October for a learn- ing retreat of sorts. We bring in outside speakers,
have different tracks of learning and have fun. We pay for everything – hotel, transportation, etc. Our budget for this event is more than $1 million. It’s worth it. It’s all about our future leaders. We also have a program called “Top Gun.” Staff can apply for this and it’s a 10-month program to accelerate. “Be More” is focused on people who want to pursue independent learning and we fund those pursuits. We give staff at multiple levels the ability to lead and work with other people. We create opportunity internally and always seek to fill positions from the inside first. It’s the little things, too. For example, I have lunch with all new employees and get to know more about who they are as a person. I give them my cell number and tell them to call for anything at any time. Some have. We make the company feel small, even though we’re getting big. TZL: There are A/E leaders who say profit centers create corrosive internal competition for firm re- sources. What’s your opinion on profit centers?
Christopher Huckabee, CEO, Huckabee
THE ZWEIG LETTER Octo
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