For his humble leadership that champions his fellow team members above himself, John Brendel, Director of Planning & Development in the Infrastructure and Transportation (I&T) Group, was one of the three recipients of Haskell’s quarterly Living the Values Awards.

“John is a strong, quiet type of leader who ‘walks the walk’ and is someone you can always count on to get the job done with excellence,” his nominator wrote. “John is a servant leader who will always make time to teach others and provide guidance. John represents Haskell and our values with every interaction he has with clients and partners. His knowledge is unmatched and his humble leadership champions his fellow team members above himself.”

Brendel, who joined Haskell 22 years ago as a project manager, not only lives the company’s values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust on the job, but he also embodies them in his personal life.

“Brendel’s generosity expands to donating his personal time and money to multiple organizations; as well as remaining highly active in muscular dystrophy volunteering, fundraising, and support” read the nomination. “He participates in his hometown of Pottstown, PA with ‘Happy2behome’ to raise funds for families with handicapped or disabled children so they are able to stay at home, in addition to local Jacksonville muscular dystrophy fundraisers. John also finds time to support his daughter’s school’s fine arts department by building theater sets for their productions.”

In the workplace, Haskell’s highly collaborative and interdisciplinary design-build focus is a natural platform for putting the values into action, Brendel said.

“Haskell’s integrated, design-build delivery model fosters cohesion and significant collaboration across the many different business units,” Brendel said. “Haskell is inherently a team-focused organization because most of the company’s projects require different divisions to work together. As a result, Haskell has built an attractive, unified culture.

“When I started at Haskell 22 years ago, the company was mainly a construction firm that possessed some design capabilities. Today, Haskell is truly a fully integrated design-build firm. This evolution promoted a highly interactive culture, as team members from all over the company work together to carry a project from start to finish.”

Haskell’s values have also cultivated a client-focused business model that unites all team members in the pursuit of client satisfaction.

“At Haskell, every team member wants to see their coworkers succeed,” he said. “Obviously, people can be competitive, but everyone at Haskell understands that they’re all on the same team. Consequently, every team member knows it’s important for them to pull their own weight in order that the project will exceed client expectations.”