Leadership Lives in Every Neuron: Inside EVstudio’s Q3 Quarterly Meeting

At EVstudio, we recently gathered for our Q3 Quarterly Meeting. This quarter, one theme tied every studio together: leadership. Each department explored leadership from its own perspective. As a result, the room heard dozens of fresh takes on one big idea.

Marketing: Thought Leadership Starts With You

To kick off the meeting, Chantz, our Marketing Coordinator, framed leadership through credibility. Marketing works best when a company’s expertise already exists internally. Therefore, our articles prove that expertise to the world and improve overall brand credibility.

Chantz also spotlighted learning as leadership. The ability to learn keeps your department current and progressing. As an example, EVstudio’s new marketing assistant Anna, recently built a mock-up-website in ten minutes using AI. Additionally, the team is growing the Alt-Mod™ brand alongside partner Vederra. Because of these tools, faster proposals and quicker graphics are now within reach.

EVAL: Everyone Is Already a Leader

Next, Khalil from the EVAL group broke leadership into small daily actions. In fact, he defined a leader as anyone who influences others toward a shared goal. Meanwhile, he praised EVstudio’s bottom-up culture, where every voice genuinely matters.

Importantly, EVAL (EV Advancing Leadership) connects departments so information flows both ways. Coming soon, the group is tackling project workflows and SharePoint document management.

Idaho: Go Around the Leaf

Then Amanda from the Idaho office location shared a project and a metaphor. Her team is designing a 104-unit podium building near Roaring Springs. However, her leadership lesson came from A Bug’s Life. When a leaf blocks the ants, panic spreads quickly. Instead, a leader steps back and says, “We’re going around the leaf.”  

Housing: Accountability, Resilience, and Better Tools

Afterward, Rox and Eric spoke for the housing studios. Leadership, Rox explained, means accountability, resilience, and consistency. Similarly, Eric praised a four-week turnaround that thrilled Classic Homes.

The team also adopted LotSpec, a Simpson Strong-Tie option-management tool. Specifically, it automates lot-specific documentation and prevents unsupported option combinations.

Later, Tom from the Colorado Springs office leaned on Admiral William McRaven quotes. For instance, “You can’t paddle the boat alone” captured collaborative leadership. Meanwhile, Rob from the EVolution Studio quoted Lao Tzu on quiet leadership. Ultimately, great leaders empower teams to say, “We did it ourselves.”

Civil and Survey

Next, Mike reminded everyone that management differs from leadership. Likewise, tenure alone never makes someone a leader. Above all, he urged the team to keep projects in-house and communicate constantly.

Commercial C Studio

Brian, head of Commercial mentioned that everyone is a leader, and everyone has their own styles. “Find yours, and bring your best assets to the team, and that is it’s own form of leadership” he shared.

Dean’s Thoughts: Be a Healthy Neuron

Finally, Dean delivered the meeting’s wrap up thoughts. He compared EVstudio to the human brain and its 86 billion neurons. With roughly 100 employees, we collectively share 8.6 trillion neurons.

His key insight was surprising. Intelligence does not come from any single “smart” neuron. Rather, it emerges from communication between them. Likewise, the brain fails when connections break down, not when one neuron dies. As proof, Dean cited Phineas Gage, who survived a spike through his brain.

Therefore, each of us acts like a neuron inside EVstudio. We receive information, process it, and pass it along automatically. Crucially, transmission is not communication. Communication requires feedback, so a simple acknowledgment often does the job. In short, no CEO neuron runs the brain, and no single person runs EVstudio. Instead, our success depends on how well information moves between us.

So Dean’s challenge was simple: be a healthy neuron. Make sure every signal gets through, and always provide feedback.

Congratulations to Our Award Winners

Lastly, EVstudio celebrated its quarterly award winners:

• Most Kudos: Alexis Mullen-Donald
• Best Article: Danielle Paglia
• Best Client Feedback: Michelle Williams
• Best Network Builder: Eric Remelius
• Best Example of E-Values: Zuhuri Manley

Congratulations to all, and thank you to everyone who presented. Until next quarter, keep leading, keep communicating, and keep firing those signals.