Eleven19 Part 3: Donovan Beery

Last week marked my first year of holding a "real job". 

One year ago, Donovan Beery hired me to work for him at Eleven19- a fun, little design shop here in Omaha Nebraska. This change brought about a lot of "firsts" for this 24-year old, including the first time I'd ever worked in an actual office with a physical boss (I've worked from home since 2004). Needless to say, working all day long in a small office with the same guy has really begun to influence me in different ways.

Thankfully, Donovan is a very enjoyable guy to be around- let alone work with. In fact, I've often been amazed at the amount of creativity and sheer momentum that he can bring to projects on a daily basis. Throughout the course of the year I've been able to discern some unique qualities in Donovan's life- that have helped to shape me, not only as a designer, but also as a person. I hope you find them helpful as well:

FLEXIBILITY: 

Instead of always trying to change other people- Donovan is more prone to adjust to someone's weakness. For example- if he knows that a friend has a tendency to run late, he will factor that into his plans so that he does not get disappointed or surprised in the end. 

FRIENDLINESS: 

Early on I learned to try to keep my mouth shut as we met with clients- and simply watch Donovan work his magic. During these meetings it's easy to tell that he's been running his own design business for over a decade. Somehow he's able to steer clients away from poor ideas and towards good ones very effortlessly. He never offends- but he also never makes shallow promises that he doesn't intend to keep. I believe the secret of his skill, may stem from his uncanny ability to simply listen well to others.

PATIENCE: 

Donovan has a tendency of being very patient with people- and I believe it's because he tends to have a longer vision for things than most people do. For example- sometimes he's willing to go way over our time budget to teach me a certain skill. He does this without any hint of hurriedness or irritation- because he understands that he's making an investment in my future.

CONSISTENCY: 

One thing that fascinates me about Donovan- is his predictability. He's definitely a creature of habit- and he leads his office in consistent rhythms throughout the day. Almost every morning he beats me to the office and already has a 32 oz Diet Mountain Dew and some kind of chocolate-glazed QT pastry strudel at his desk. We take turns spinning vinyl while we work,  we "hit the trail" on our bikes approximately 2-3 times per day and almost every Friday afternoon Donovan routinely asks me: "Any big weekend plans?".

FOCUS: 

When I first started working at Eleven19- I immediately recognized an old trait of Donovan's from when he was my design teacher at MCC: If I ask him a question while he's engrossed in a task (like reading an article or writing an email) he will first finish the task entirely and then respond normally when he is available. At first- it seemed like Donovan was ignoring me, but it soon became clear that he is just highly focused at everything he does. He's all about finishing one task before starting another. 

GENEROSITY: 

A brand new record player, a giant lego pirate ship, airfare to San Francisco, countless lunches and beers- these are just some of the things that Donovan has given me over the past year. I'm not sure I've ever met someone so skilled at (and excited about) giving good gifts as Donovan. 

DEDICATION:

Donovan realizes that in order to really reap the full benefits from something- you need to be willing to stick it out, and be faithful. As he told me just the other day, "Just when you're beginning to get bored of your brand or identity- is right about the time that people are starting to recognize it."

CURIOSITY: 

In a world that is so full of people that just want to hear themselves talk- Donovan always seems to be sincerely interested in what's going on in people's lives. This is because Donovan finds people "fascinating". He's always quick to Wikipedia a fact or statistic while we talk about current events or sports- he simply loves finding out new things about people. (Pair this unending curiosity with his impeccable memory, and you can get an idea of the quality of conversations around Eleven19.)