In 10 years, individuals may find themselves either stagnating or evolving. At Mosby Building Arts, a St. Louis-based company with $29 million in annual revenue, leaders are taught to see growth as a shared responsibility. “It’s not their job to make my job easier—it’s my job to make their job easier,” says Mark McClanahan, the company’s president. This philosophy underpins how Mosby cultivates leadership, turning employees into managers and managers into executives.
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McClanahan’s journey to leadership began in the music industry, where he learned the value of collaboration. When he joined Mosby in 2015, he noticed a gap: leadership lacked a clear definition. “I had to fire someone in 2018,” he recalls. “The problem wasn’t hers—it was mine. I hadn’t explained what leadership at Mosby looked like.” That failure led to a company-wide effort to create a shared vision, modeled after Zingerman’s, a company known for its culture. The result: a statement defining leadership as “distinguished, servant-based, cohesive, and effective.”
Central to this vision are leadership round tables. These voluntary or assigned meetings bring 12–15 people together for an hour of discussion, guided by content from books like Extreme Ownership and Radical Candor. “The magic is watching people learn from each other,” McClanahan says. For those not ready for round tables, Mosby offers workshops—open to all 140 employees. Each workshop includes a quiz, with results shared with managers to reinforce learning.
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One-on-one relationships are another pillar. Every manager, including McClanahan, holds biweekly meetings with direct reports, using Peter Drucker’s principle of delegation. “Which tasks could someone else do better?” Drucker’s question drives these sessions. Formal reviews are required twice a year, but McClanahan goes the extra mile, holding three with his direct reports annually. Preparation is key: “I spend an hour before each meeting,” he says.
New supervisors go through a self-directed 90-day onboarding program, complete with mentorship. This approach helped Sarah Tabaka, an accounting clerk who joined Mosby 19 years ago. She participated in every round table and workshop, rising to Director of Operations. “She got the job because she deserved it,” McClanahan says. Her leadership has boosted profitability, allowing McClanahan to take his first vacation in adulthood—a testament to the company’s leadership pipeline.
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Mosby’s approach isn’t just about people—it’s about results. The company’s founder, Scott Mosby, retired in 2018, confident in the leadership team he and McClanahan had built. “When you call people to their greatness, great things can happen,” McClanahan says. For Mosby Building Arts, leadership isn’t a title. It’s a culture—one that turns employees into leaders, and leaders into the future of the company.
