Mark D. Sikes’s Manual for Success

13 Aug Mark D. Sikes’s Manual for Success

It sounds like had a strong management sense coming into the firm. How do you continue to hone those skills?

My focus over the last few years has been on meeting people in their place, recognizing them with thanks and gratitude, and being available to them. We work super hard and we’re structured, but we’re not formal. There’s a casualness and an open-door policy where people should feel comfortable talking and sharing. We have this incredible team that executes every day and as time goes on, there are many things I’m less involved in.

I’ll give you an example: We’re installing Blair House, which besides [Jill Biden’s East Wing office in] the White House is probably the most important thing we’ve ever done. Last week, we had to be there to wrap up things for the install, meet with all the vendors, walk through with the decorative painter—site visit tasks. I couldn’t do it because I was [traveling], so three people from my team went and executed it. I completely trusted that they could do that all effectively without me—and they did. It’s a testament to empowering them, encouraging them, being proud of them, and not just with every project, but with some of the most important projects. That’s so rewarding, and it makes me very proud that we can accomplish big things like that. It really speaks to the strength of our team.

And the caliber of people you hire and develop. Do you have any qualities you prioritize when hiring?

When we’re interviewing people, a portion of it has to do with their resume and their experience, and a portion has to do with just the personal connection with them. I want to learn how they work. What is their organizational process like? Who are they? What do they value in the workplace? What do they value with people? Kindness, generosity, and respectfulness in how we work with our vendors and our workrooms—those portions are just as important to me as the creativity, and you can discover a lot if you ask the right questions.

What’s been your biggest learning as a design principal?

I always tell my team: It’s not that we don’t want to make mistakes—we’re humans, we’re going to make mistakes. The bottom line is: Do we have enough checks and balances in our system to keep it from becoming a big mistake? Anyone who would say they have it all figured out is lying. But we have enough systems and processes in place that it’s rare that anything major goes wrong.

This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.