A little more than a year ago, Stanton Communications announced a significant change in our firm that transformed how we work together and with our clients. Peter Stanton, our founder, took a big step to the side and welcomed me to serve as President while he focused on his role as Chief Executive Officer. Since that time, we have developed new client relationships, had a little hand in history and expanded our international partnerships with firms that share our commitment to quality and service excellence.
We also have done meaningful work with clients to help them break down communication barriers and connect their stories to the people who matter. Today, I am excited to announce that we are breaking down our own barriers — in a literal way — by making a considerable change to our work environment.
For those of you who have not visited our offices in Washington and Baltimore, they are very traditional, corporate spaces with long halls of private offices and large conference rooms. These have served us well for the past 28 years, but it’s time for a change. Our team is highly collaborative, creative, and nimble, and working in closed off spaces did not reflect that reality nor did it facilitate the sort of direct and effortless interaction that fuels our best thinking. It was easy in that setting, to default to our introverted sides rather than draw inspiration and ideas from one another.
So, today, we are joining the tens of thousands of professionals at organizations ranging from start-ups to large corporations including Microsoft who are members of the WeWork Community. This new approach to our D.C. workspace (and similar arrangements at Rockefeller Center in New York and at Spark in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor) eschews traditional walled-off offices in favor of flexibility and shared environments. The setup enables us to approach our work without barriers and with an openness that already has benefited our team. I am eager and very excited to see how these new surroundings energize us.
While our physical space has changed one thing that has not and will not ever change is our focus on quality. We are committed to serving as trusted counselors to our clients, and hold the very traditional view that even the most creative and innovative ideas must be anchored in strategy, thoughtfully executed, and carefully measured. Regardless of our physical surroundings, at our core, that is who we are. I believe our more collaborative approach to work will only strengthen that emphasis.
