Introduction
David Dooley, Chief Strategy Officer at CBI Workplace Solutions in Charlotte, talks with Jack Ossa about leadership, self-reflection, organizational culture and the future of the workplace. Jack describes David as a mentor who has been generous with his time, perspective and network as Jack built his business.
David has more than 35 years of experience building businesses and teams. The conversation moves from his early years in construction to the workplace industry, and from what makes a high-performance team to what an office will look like in ten to fifteen years.
About the Episode
David describes impact as helping people, paying forward the mentoring he received and building teams around strengths. He grew up in Charlotte, played competitive golf in college and started working in construction in 1985 with a mentor who taught him about hiring, culture, strategy and repeatable relationships. He later moved to a Charlotte construction firm that could not compete head-on with the largest general contractors in Charlotte, so he focused it on niche sectors: community buildings such as churches, YMCAs and private schools, and commercial interior renovation.
With banks growing and building new towers, the firm became a leader in interior construction in the Southeast and added a mission-critical division. Over about twenty years it grew to more than 300 million dollars a year and was bought by Balfour Beatty. David then chose the workplace sector, invested in companies in the construction supply chain and now leads strategy at CBI, which he says is among the largest Knoll dealers in the country.
The second half covers how he mentors, why self-awareness predicts success, what clients struggle with in a workplace in transformation and how data, technology and integrated teams can help design offices that people want to use.
Key Takeaways
- Build a team to go far: impact comes from empowering people and focusing them on their strengths.
- Self-reflection comes first: know your strengths, your weaknesses and your blind spots, and hire people to cover the rest.
- Pick a niche: his firm grew by focusing on specific sectors instead of competing as a generalist.
- Design includes relationships: strategies and relationships are designed too, not only buildings.
- Integrate early: successful clients involve workplace consultants, architects and builders years ahead and use data about their culture.
- Workplaces will offer choice: few assigned seats, collaborative and quiet areas, and technology that supports human interaction.
- Avoid too much process: David believes heavy control kills entrepreneurship and innovation.
Highlights from the Conversation
If you want to go fast go by yourself but if you want to go far you need to build a team.
David Dooley
Process kills entrepreneurship kills innovation.
David Dooley
I think the office is gonna be made up of a lot of different choices a lot of different places to work.
David Dooley
Topics Discussed
- Impact, mentoring and paying it forward
- Self-reflection and strengths-based teams
- Learning construction from a mentor
- Growing a firm through niche sectors
- Moving into workplace solutions and CBI's growth
- Design as relationships and strategy
- How clients should prepare for workplace change
- Workplace of the future and CBI's differentiators
Why This Conversation Matters
David argues that the best workplaces start with culture and data, with architects, builders and workplace specialists at the same table early. That is the approach behind our interior architecture and architecture work, including offices such as the BWM Office and the Collet Office, and his focus on churches as a niche relates to projects like Vizion Church. His view that a brand must fit a company's culture also applies to our branding work.
About the Guest
David Dooley is the Chief Strategy Officer at CBI Workplace Solutions in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has more than 35 years of experience building businesses and high-performance teams, led a Charlotte construction firm for about twenty years and has invested in companies across the construction supply chain. He grew up in Charlotte. Connect with David on LinkedIn.
