Perseverance is one of the Evergreen 7Ps® principles and it’s critical for any Evergreen® company’s survival. Contrary to what many assume, however, it doesn’t just come into play when times get tough. In my time as President & CEO of MCG Explore Design, an Architecture and Interior Design firm based in Alaska, my team and I have gained insights into the importance of persevering through both downturns and upturns. MCG has weathered storms and soared to new heights in the more than 30 years I’ve been with the firm. Through the vagaries of the past few decades, there have been several pivotal moments that have driven home this important truth.

I joined MCG straight out of graduate school. I started drafting and moved into my current role 25 years ago. Like any company that intends to endure for the long term, at MCG, we expected that the road to success would not be a straight line, and right from the start, put some strategies in place to enable us to get through the downturns that were sure to come. Early on, for example, we adopted a ‘distributed leadership model’, in order to foster equal opportunity through independent agency, accountability, and shared success among the leadership team. This approach not only empowers individuals but also fosters super-collaboration and innovation, leading to exponential-paced growth for our company.