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Creative problem solver returns home

Joe Kujawa, CLP, had it made. After all, he is the son of a successful landscape contractor, and the family business, Kujawa Enterprises, Inc. (KEI), was booming. The only problem? He didn’t want to work in the green industry. Ever since the third grade, he had his sights set on designing buildings — on becoming an architect.

So he did. After working a couple of high school summers at KEI, Kujawa attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and received his five-year architectural degree in 1991. After taking a year sabbatical to see the world, the young architect landed a job in the Washington, D.C., office of Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), an international architectural/engineering firm.

“My timing wasn’t the greatest,” says Kujawa. “In 1991, the building industry was slumping, but even more dis¬ concerting, I wasn’t sure that I still wanted to be an architect. I loved design, but there were other parts of me that weren’t being challenged; I missed the analytical world of business. The HOK position was a good opportunity, though. It allowed me to complete my apprenticeship and be involved on the business side of one of the world’s largest firms, working directly with George Hellmuth, the founder’s son.”

The business-oriented architect worked in D.C. for five years. When he left the firm in 1997, he was manager of business development for the Mid-Atlantic region, and the experience left him charged up to aggressively pursue a career in business. As Kujawa explains, his wife was a journalist and he was an architect, but neither was going to make enough money to raise the kind of family they wanted. “We didn’t want to send our children to day care, so one of us had to make enough money, so the other could stay home with the kids,” he relates. “We talked it over and decided that I would go back to school for an MBA. I received my degree from Vanderbilt, with a focus in operations and organizational design. My professors joked that as the only architect in the school I truly was a creative problem solver.”

For the next several years, Kujawa worked for a consulting firm in Chicago, flying around the country solving problems for Fortune 100 companies. He was making enough money to support his wife and three children. Unfortunately, he never had any time to see them. At about this same time, KEI was building a new headquarters facility near Milwaukee.

“The family business was growing, and it was facing many of the same challenges and problems that I was solving for other companies,” Kujawa notes. He considered inquiring about a position in the family business, but held back because he knew his family would offer one even if they didn’t have a place for him. “I thought I could help, and, at the same time, improve my own family life, but I didn’t want to put them in that position,” he remembers. “So I started to look elsewhere for a new job.”

That’s when fate stepped in. About a month after he decided to look elsewhere, his brother Chris called and talked to him about coming on board. He talked it over with his wife and decided to make the move. KEI had a new vice president of operations and planning.

Homeward bound
Since joining KEI in November 2003, Kujawa has helped implement a company-wide reorganization, moved some people around, and challenged the staff in ways it hadn’t been previously challenged. In three years, he helped the company become more customer oriented, focused attention on training and employee development by defining career milestones and job descriptions, and integrated new software programs and other new technologies.

“The family business has changed dramatically over the years,” says Kujawa. “During the busy season, it now employs upwards of 165 people, serving primarily the commercial market. Construction, maintenance, and snow removal, along with interior sales, generates nearly $9 million in annual revenue. Working here is not like working for a huge company, although many of the challenges can be the same. The big difference is that in a small company, many times those same problems can have a much bigger impact. There is less room for error.”

He continues, “Within the next couple of years, KEI, like any mature company, needs to prepare for significant personnel challenges. This will surely put additional emphasis on our organizational structure and recruiting. One of our goals is to continue to attract and retain the right people. We want to get them on the bus now, so we can continue to be aggressive about future opportunities.”

Among current responsibilities, this creative problem solver works closely with KEI’s directors of interior and exterior operations; he leads the companies planning process, manages the office staff, and is the company’s number one change agent, challenging how things are done.

“While Chris focuses on the top line, I get to spend my time trying to grow the bottom line,” he adds. “In that regard, I am a huge proponent of lean management principles and how they can be effectively applied to our ¬ industry.”

In the meantime, Kujawa is just glad to be home, doing the kind of work he likes to do — which is not to say he doesn’t have some challenges to overcome. “Initially, one of my biggest challenges was that I found it hard not being completely myself. In all of my previous jobs, I was an employee and I carried on as such. At KEI, I’m not just an employee anymore. Believe it or not, it’s not always the easiest transition to make. Perspectives and perceptions both go through significant change. When I first came to KEI, everything I said was taken very seriously and quite literally. When you come in new and make some hard decisions, your serious side can often be misperceived as a hard edge. You need to be aware of that and sometimes modify your approach accordingly.”

At a more personal level, though, he says his and his family’s quality of life has gone through the roof even though his paycheck is smaller. “I have more flexibility than in my previous jobs. I have my extended family nearby. And, I’m doing something that is truly meaningful personally and professionally. That’s the best of all worlds.”