When we made the decision to trade our offices in a corporate environment for a 16-acre campus, a garden was part of our plan. We saw a garden as part and parcel to the building, a place of beauty where we would all learn to eat a bit better. Beyond the fruits and vegetables that …
In the construction business, it can be common to ask for a Fee & General Condition proposal prior to the plans being finished so that a customer/owner can bring a contractor on board. This is very analytical, and the question I ask myself is, “Where’s the matrix for the heart?” In any business transaction, there …
We are currently involved with the rebuild of a major United Way campus. This involves bringing an existing multistory office building constructed in the 1950s to current standards, including a new skin. Most of our projects that have a new curtain wall as a component are structural steel frames, but this project is reinforced concrete. …
Last Saturday, I got to attend a symposium entitled, “Faith Meets Business: Climate Solutions for the Common Good.” One of the panelists included our friend Dr. Jim McClintock, an endowed Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at UAB. Jim is recognized internationally as one of the leaders in this field. Coincidentally, I read this past …
I spent some time recently with a couple of long-term customers. Both have national presence, but one is small and the other large. Each is successful in its own way, with the smaller company’s strategy relying a fair amount upon the corporate culture and its boots on the ground, and the larger historically using a …
I am fortunate to be a part of the Master’s of Real Estate Development (MRED) program at Auburn University. It’s a 2-year tract targeted at people who have been out of school and working for a while. The focus is “training a new generation of executives to build places that matter.” I enjoyed sitting on a …
If I was a college football player, I would want Dabo Swinney for a coach. Like most Division I coaches, he’s talented in strategy and implementation, but to me, what sets him apart is his empathy, passion and ability to see things others may not. That’s all true both on and off the field. A few years ago, a …
In some ways, current retail direction mirrors retail of the past, with a renewed emphasis on neighborhoods, the storefronts where we live and “the experience.” It seems retail is becoming more focused on community, creating spaces where people spend time with friends and family. Shopping is part of the experience, but not the only goal. …
Ten years ago this summer, I made a trip to Maine, where I spent a week with the cabinet makers of Thos. Moser crafting a couple of rocking chairs. I was reflecting on that trip today, and got to thinking that if one wishes to be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be …
This month has been a rough one for the Auburn family, as we lost legendary quarterback Pat Sullivan. He played under coach Shug Jordan, along with my friend Dick Schmalz, one of Sullivan’s favorite receivers. I had a conversation with Dick this week about Coach Jordan. He served in the Army as a Captain during …
It’s the season for holiday parties, when we’re often catching up with folks we haven’t seen in a while and meeting a few new faces. It’s a good time to dust off best practices for getting to know people, whatever the setting. Here are a few that have proven most powerful for me: Name recall. …
Switch on the tv, and you’ll hear an almost endless stream of negativity. “Our nation has never been more divided,” they say. I have never felt this way about most of the towns and cities where we build, as the changes I’ve seen have been mostly positive. It turns out that there’s whole movement of …