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John
P R O F I L E
Conference call: John Beasley President of Wakefield Beasley & Associates (Hot Firm #14 for 2016), a 165-person architectural design firm based in Alpharetta, Georgia.
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent “W e are a fast-paced, high-performance com- pany, and underperformers are detrimen- tal to the morale of our workforce and the quality of our services,” Beasley says. A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN BEASLEY. The Zweig Letter: In the event of failure, how does your firm react? John Beasley: The business of design is not a per- fect process, and when failure occurs we pick up the pieces, pick up the phone, accept responsibility, resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and move on. We treat problems and resolutions as learn- ing opportunities, and never reprimand or embar- rass the guilty party. As in most business issues,
communication is critical. Informing the client that a problem exists, explaining how we are going to fix it, and following through to resolution gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our professional ethics and strengthen our relationship. TZL: Monthly happy hours and dog-friendly of- fices. What do today’s CEOs need to know about today’s workforce? JB: While I am a baby boomer, and we have oth- er silverbacks in our company, overall we have a young workforce. Our average age companywide is 42, including a significant number of millenni- als. Today’s workforce is experiencing such rapid change in technology and the way business is done, and the next generation will undoubtedly be total- ly different. Culture is the glue that holds creative companies together, and providing a collaborative
John Beasley, President, Wakefield Beasley & Associates
THE ZWEIG LETTER Octo
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