A Window on the World

Architect Geoff Butler's experience shows how China is Springfield's entrée into global business competition.

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Photo by Scott Oglesby This is a statue of Po Lin, taken by Scott Oglesby, an employee of Butler, Rosenbury & Partners who is currently working in China for the firm.

After almost 30 years in business, architect Geoff Butler and his company, Butler, Rosenbury & Partners, were at a crossroads. At 54, the president and CEO of Springfield’s largest architectural firm was wrestling with the issues that challenge any successful business: how to ensure the company survives him; how to attract and keep the best staff; how to develop and challenge his people; and how to generate enough work to keep them busy. He discovered the solution in 2006, when his firm began doing business in Dongguan, China. That entrée to the realm of international business has had a profound effect on him, his company and his employees.

“I grew up in Springfield, Missouri; I’ve been here all my life, and you really don’t think of Springfield being an international hub for learning international practice or international business,” says 25-year-old architecture intern Stephanie Shadwick (who was named one of 2007’s 20 Under 30 significant young people by the editors of GO Magazine in May). But working for BRP in China “really opened my eyes.” Shadwick now wants to specialize in international practice and plans to fulfill her career goals at BRP.

China provides BRP with a resource for staff training and development, a pipeline to new business and a lure to attract and keep talented people. But the impact of the China experience goes far beyond China. Butler now realizes he is operating an international firm that can compete as well as the industry giants. After years of contending with “out-of-town experts,” now he is the out-of-town expert. In short, Butler has discovered the world.

Local Impact

Interaction with China has dramatically affected BRP, starting with the boss’s daily schedule. Every day at 5 a.m., Butler’s up and on his computer to find out what happened in China today. Because of the 13-hour time difference, China’s business day is ending before Springfield’s begins. Each night before he goes to bed, Butler is online again, checking in as China starts its workday.

Working with Chinese firm Walford Architects (a.k.a. GuangDong Huafang Architects & Engineers Co.), BRP has outsourced much of its production work—i.e. CAD drawings—to Dongguan, China. Butler says outsourcing has leveraged his architects’ brainpower and essentially turned them into managers.

China Square, the Walford division handling the production work, comprises 12 young Chinese professionals supervised by BRP staff. Stephanie Shadwick, became the first person to head that office as a 24-year-old fresh from Drury University.

It was a big responsibility, she says, but she was flattered by the trust BRP placed in her. Supervising at China Square, says Butler, has become a very effective leadership-training program for staff such as Shadwick because they learn to manage 12 other architects and meet with clients.