Shared values, different opinions.

Sidney White loved his drawing board, where he developed the architecture of the future. Sitting in meetings, travelling around and meeting people were not really his thing. So when he established White in 1951, he took care to bring in co-owners who complemented him (he also liked having good friends around him every day, as do we). We are still working according to Sidney's model. We believe that the best way of creating something lasting and long term is to do it together with people we like and with whom we share values. That is why shared ownership has been a fundamental concept for us since 1951. We currently have 86 partners, all owning an equal share of the company. In addition, all 500 of our employees are offered the chance to become shareholders in the company. Many have taken us up on this offer.

"A group of partners is obviously a guarantee of security, continuity and the succession of generations at White, but above all our customers appreciate the fact that we are independent of outside owners and interests - all our knowledge, everything we develop constantly goes into increasing the company's expertise. In addition, the involvement of many co-owners in customers and companies represents a major advantage for all concerned," says Magnus Borglund, former CEO and now Executive Chairman of the Board at White.

However, co-ownership and the sharing of fundamental values do not mean that we are all the same or have the same ideas. Quite the reverse. We are absolutely convinced that it is in our differences, in the exchange of opinions and opposing thoughts, that exciting and new developments arise. Employing people who are the same as ourselves or the group is the first step towards stagnation and uniform thinking. Both in the group of partners and the company as a whole, we try to achieve a mix of different ages, genders and skills. This is naturally easier said than done, but our intention is for White to reflect the communities and markets in which we work. Anything else would be unthinkable for us.

"Over the years it has been our tradition to invest in young, new talents, sometimes straight out of school. We would never have dared do this if we did not genuinely have the project and group dynamics where older, experienced architects help the younger ones. But also learn from them. We have also supplemented our already extensive knowledge with individuals such as social anthropologists, sociologists, economists and artists. This is being done with the aim of covering as many influential and important parameters as possible," concludes Monica von Schmalensee, CEO of White.

Organization Chart White (pdf)