Values-Based Leadership: Building the Right Culture for

More than 30 years after founding construction management firm MBP, Blake Peck, MS CE 78, is confident that its success is thanks to the strong values he and his team have lived by over the years.

Peck, who delivered the Fall 2021 Lecture for the Kenneth Hyatt Distinguished Leadership Speaker Series on Oct. 5, told the audience that those values are deeply ingrained. In 1989, when Peck and his business partners Charlie Bolyard and Frank McDonough decided to start their own company, they began with their values.

“The overriding theme was we wanted to do things the right way and build a company that we would want to work for, even if we didn’t own it,” Peck said.

MBP – which stands for the initials of the three partners – was created on the back of a napkin in a Virginia bar with a goal of employing 4-5 people and doing $450,000 in business in its first year. Today, after more than 30 years in business, MBP is a Top 50 firm that employs more than 300 people at 15 locations around the country.

Peck attributes this success to the company’s relentless commitment to its values. With multiple offices around the country, MBP maintains its consistency by prioritizing values with everyone who joins the team, Peck said.

Peck shared MBP’s six value statements with the audience: we are one team, we deliver quality, we act with integrity, we are driven to succeed, we are innovative, and we care about our community.

Peck said the company is more diverse than it was when it was founded in the late 80s. This happened organically, he said, by giving people opportunities and pathways to advance.

“The chair of our board is a woman who started at 19 as an intern for us,” Peck said.

Peck stepped down as CEO earlier this year following a successful ownership transition, though he is still with the company.

“We completed the dream,” Peck said of the vision he and his co-founders shared when they set out to create MBP, “that even if we didn’t own this company we’d still want to work for it.”

KENNETH HYATT DISTINGUISHED LEADERSHIP SPEAKER FALL 2021