Bob Clark Beyond: Inspiration

latest inspiration posts

The Bottom Line: Appreciation

When it comes to weathering challenging circumstances, the bottom line is appreciation. The most important thing a leader can do is demonstrate a genuine appreciation for the people that show up, day after day, to do their job despite the difficulties at hand. The Job Is The Boss Tour was never just about checking up on job site progress, it was about being physically present with my teams so that I could thank them for everything they are doing for our clients and communities across America. It was phenomenal to see what has been happening on behalf of Clayco, for both our clients and the economy.

November's Featured Architect: Bjarke Ingels

November’s featured architect is my friend, the young and charismatic Bjarke Ingels, who is a Danish architect and the founder of Bjarke Ingels Group—better known as BIG. He was born in Copenhagen in 1974 and demonstrated an interest in drawing from a very young age. Ingels dreamed of being a cartoonist and was encouraged by his parents to study architecture so that he could learn more about drawing and increase his career possibilities. He began studying architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts before going to study in Barcelona at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura. Ingels’ first job was with Rem Koolhaas at OMA in Rotterdam. Ingels achieved success and international acclaim very young in life, when his first architecture firm that he formed with OMA colleague Julien de Smedt—PLOT—was awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2004. PLOT continued to receive attention and awards for their projects like the VM Houses in Ørestad, Copenhagen, but disbanded at the end of 2005. Ingels went on to form BIG, which achieved near-immediate fame with his Mountain Dwellings residential complex.

The Job Is The Boss 2020 Tour Final Week

Harbor Freight Tools Project in Joliet, Illinois Condor Project in Monee, Illinois

November's Featured Artist: Zanele Muholi

“I’m reclaiming photography as a black female being. I’m calling myself a visual activist, whether I am included in a show or not, whether I am published or not. That’s my stance as a person, before anything else, before my sexuality and gender, because photography doesn’t have a gender.” — Zanele Muholi

The Job Is The Boss: Week Three Update

Full speed ahead! This week we continued The Job Is The Boss Tour with 9 job site visits over 4 days. It’s awesome to see the progress that has been made, and I’ve enjoyed getting to connect with our teams on the ground. On Tuesday we started in Idaho at Project Bronco and then made our way to Washington so that we could get an early start on Wednesday at our MHW projects in Quincy. We then headed to Olympia to visit the NP Hawks Prairie project.

The Job Is The Boss: Week Two Update

EDGE West in Creve Coeur Wow, Week 2 managed to keep up with the pace of week 1 with 10 more job sites in three days! We started out the week visiting Project Belmont in Indiana, Project Cougar in Michigan and then Etna Park 70 East in Ohio. On Wednesday we headed south to Kentucky to see the project for Nicklies in Louisville before heading over to Kansas City, Missouri to visit Horizon XI in Riverside and then Project Smile in St. Peters, Missouri. We finished out the week close to home in St. Louis with visits to the EDGE West in Creve Coeur, Centene’s Urban Campus in Clayton, One Hundred Above the Park St. Louis City and Delmar Divine in University City.

ARCHITECHT SPOTLIGHT

Jean Nouveau’s Dynamic Vision

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a building with a dome roof and a body of water

Beyond Book Club

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Medicine 3.0: how to live a long, strong and happy life

The Legacies of Two Great American Heroes

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Inspiration

I have always had an insatiable curiosity

What causes me to get out of bed every morning is driven by inspiration. Ever since I was a little boy, I was inspired by my insatiable curiosity, which caused me to be a reader, a thinker, and a dreamer.

I can remember being inspired by seeing Bobby Kennedy on TV and watching videotapes of Martin Luther King Jr., and being deeply saddened by their assassination even though I was only 10 years old when I experienced all of this.

As a little boy, rocket flight was a big thing. I remember being fascinated by the moon and the stars and the astronauts exploring them.As humans we are achieving remarkable things that only a handful of years before were just in the imagination.

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