07: Shopping Spree

With a big pot of money from their investor, HOK goes on a shopping spree. In this episode, Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA highlights examples of HOK’s expansion, he expands on his thoughts and examples of growth strategies for a firm, and shares how things began to unravel for the firm.Patrick shares his lessons for listeners to take away from this episode:Grow to serve clients, but…NEVER neglect qualityNurture your company culture or you will lose it!To read along and see illustrations and personal photos that accompany this series, get Patrick’s book, Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm. You can buy the book at gablmedia.com/buildsmartbook/ and find out more information at macleamy.com Mentioned in this episode:SpacesCoDesign

Om Podcasten

BUILD SMART is a narrative podcast that features Patrick MacLeamy, FAIA, architect, and former CEO of global firm HOK. With host Mark R. LePage, AIA, NCARB, MacLeamy shares stories and lessons from his 50-year career, rising from an HOK junior designer to the company CEO, a tenure that parallels HOK’s growth from 150 employees in St. Louis to a staff of more than 1,900 in 27 offices on three continents. MacLeamy highlights innovative solutions and tough decisions that sustained HOK through multiple economic swings, culminating in it becoming one of the world’s Top 10 architecture and engineering firms. HOK was structured for long-term success — BUILD SMART will share these lessons to help architects and creative-services firms build for long-term success as they design a world-class firm.