Page 20 - Lighting Magazine March 2019

| guestEDITOR
SPONSORED CONTENT
CAPITAL LIGHTING’S FOUNDERS ON BUILDING THE BUSINESS, CUSTOMER RE TIONSHIPS AND EMBRACING CHANGE
The question “How will this impact our customers and employees?” drives most decisions at Capital Lighting.
John Lewis / 9 a.m., OCTOBER 30, 2018: Familiar, friendly faces lled the spacious break room in our Flowery Branch, GA facility, a mix of curiosity and uncertainty in their eyes, as they awaited my announcement. The company we had built together over the past 25 years would transition to 100% employee ownership.
Transitioning from family ownership was a complex, three-year-long process with countless hours of meetings and paperwork. Nothing about it was easy, but everything about it felt right.
As I considered the future of the company that Mary Lou and I had built with the help of our employees and customers, an ESOP made the most sense. It would keep Capital Lighting intact.
ESOP would allow us to continue support- ing our suppliers and customers. Company stock ownership would o er our employees greater nancial security, a retirement plan they could shape.
Mary Lou Lewis: For years, John’s entre- preneurial spark remained untapped in the corporate world. It would be a ma er of time before we turned business owners, his Georgia Tech connections paving the way for- ward. We remain grateful to mentor, catalyst and prominent Atlanta businessman Mr. Don Chapman and Mr. Hughes Spruill, from whom we acquired Capital Lighting in 1996.
I would never have imagined what my art history and interior design background would prepare me for. I urge women to combine their passion with business acumen to blaze their own trail.
FROM THE GROUND UP
MLL: There is no short cut. It took relentless hard work, perseverance and determination to tackle a steep learning curve. From driving fork li s, shipping orders and managing the accounts ourselves to si ing on factory oors
and training artisans to hand-paint nishes while swapping family stories, the journey has been humbling.
We can’t thank our customers enough for their support. But for loyal customers, hard- working reps and commi ed employees, we would not be here today.
GREAT PRODUCTS START WITH GOOD DESIGN
JL: Our international sourcing experience soon taught us that o -the-rack products would not cut it if we wanted to proudly put the Capital name behind our products. We sketched our rst designs inside cabs, driving between fac- tories, and came up with original nishes and details, knowing we could o er be er.
MLL: Design is at the core of our business. We are always mindful about being on trend while staying true to our aesthetic.
John hand-drew our initial designs, tapping into a knack he inherited from his father, an architect. De ning the Capital style is some- thing we are still closely involved with, working collaboratively with our amazing designers. We love how they push the envelope, explor- ing new materials, techniques and styles to produce true Capital designs.
GROWING THE TEAM
When hiring, we look for talent, work ethic and integrity. Skills can be taught, and people can be trained.
JL: We owe our success to dedicated employ- ees. From recent college grads to seasoned industry professionals, we are fortunate to have a multigenerational group of people from di erent professional and cultural back- grounds pooling their talent, enthusiasm and experience in fashion, retail, event planning, print production, marketing and other areas.
MLL: I appreciate the perspective every employee brings, be it Cindy, our sourcing director with her knowledge of manufacturing in the Asia Paci c, Yves, experienced tech wiz
and chief architect of our information systems, Glenn, our resourceful lead engineer, our design directors, Manny and Christina who drive the Capital aesthetic forward, Mike, our veteran operations director with a stellar track record, Sabrina, who leads our phenomenal customer service team, or Cynthia, longtime friend and interior designer who is integral to our design direction and the Dallas showroom experience, to name just a few. We’re thankful for a complementary mix of fresh talent and experienced members, including some who have been with us from the start.
HONORING THE PAST,
EMBRACING THE FUTURE
JL: Having built Capital as a husband-and- wife team, we genuinely relate to customers who are tight-knit, family-owned businesses. We have been through market uctuations, business transitions and personal milestones together and feel a family-like connection. I of- ten tell new employees about how it all started before growing into the company they see today with a 170,000 sq. . o ce and ware- house and a 9000 sq. . showroom in Dallas.
MLL: Change is inevitable. We evolve and adapt to stay relevant through our designs, leaner manufacturing, innovative marketing, new technology and more e cient processes.
However, our fundamentals don’t change. We gladly go the extra mile for our customers. More recently, this is re ected in our robust, trend-centered marketing assets aimed at driving business to our customers’ showrooms.
We’ve recently upgraded our Georgia facil- ity. The brand-new space designed to foster creativity, teamwork and productivity includes open, collaboration areas, private o ces and a new photo studio. The studio will allow us greater exibility around the visual represen- tation of products, ultimately delivering be er assets for our customers.
At Capital, we do our best to embrace the new while staying rmly rooted in our priority to help our customers thrive.
16 enLIGHTenment Magazine | March 2019
www.enlightenmentmag.com