For Joe Weaver success is the sweetest payout

Joe Weaver, a native of Philadelphia, moved to Baltimore to be close to his family. He'd recently earned his MS in Information Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and was looking to start his career.

"I was just so disconnected from my family and friends. I knew I wanted to live in a metropolis, but Atlanta would have given me the same difficulties I'd had at RPI, in terms of being so far away from everyone. So, I came to Baltimore," he says.

Weaver took a position with Price Waterhouse as an Oracle Developer installing, upgrading and tweaking the company's Workers' Compensation Insurance System for clients on in Los Angeles.

"I had a great assignment. I moved here. Bought a house and every other weekend I was flying back. I had a pretty decent life for a 25 year-old," he says with a rueful smile.

Two and a half years later of commuting from Baltimore to L.A., Weaver knew that he was ready to make a change. While he says he'd never considered being an entrepreneur, he decided to take a leap of faith and start his own business.

"There's no easy path to success, and success usually means that something has to take a hit in order to have the focus that you need. I took my talent for drawing when I was growing up and merged that with the technology experience I had from my two degrees and Oracle work," he says.

Rolling the dice

He launched Global Design Interactive (GDI) in 1995. For the first few months, Weaver, who'd been given a new assignment that kept him in Baltimore, continued working at Price Waterhouse during the day. After 5 p.m. he'd go home and try to drum up clients.

"I should have probably worked in the industry for a year or two. But, one of my key assets is my vision. I can always see where I want to get to. I can't always tell you how long it will take or what every point will be along the way, but I believe enough in my intuition and vision that it becomes my guide," he explains.

Focused on graphic design, GDI started with a client list that included fraternities, sororities, churches, small businesses and other organizations.

"I designed t-shirts for them. And at the time there was this trend where you'd find free postcards with advertisements on them in restaurants. I started that in Baltimore and did it on the side," Weaver says.

It wasn't until a year later that he began incorporating his technological background into the business.

"I was still into technology and all the possibilities it represented. So, that's when we started developing interactive CD-ROMS and websites before people knew their real potential. We were very early adopters and I think that separates us from most companies. We embrace technology, but not just for the sake of using the technology. It has to be the right for the client," he explains

More than a decade later, Weaver's philosophy on maintaining a successful relationship with clients is deceptively simple -- research, research, research.

"We research the strategy and creative problem solving, that's another thing that sets us apart. Then being able to apply that in both worlds � offline or online -- and marrying those things to find the right strategy mix," he says.

Leading the way

One thing Weaver has learned is that leadership is the key component to success. However in order to lead, he says, "you really need to have some great people with you. Your talent, drive and ability will only take you so far. There's no rule book laying out step one, step two, step three, its trial and error. And you might be born with the skills to lead, but you have to have people willing to follow as you go down one path and another."

With 10 employees looking to him for guidance now, Weaver says establishing a workplace philosophy offering them the ability to achieve as much as they can has been essential.

"Everyone has a shot here. My mentality is that your hard work determines your destiny. [GDI] is what is because we are team. When I first started I tried to be the opposite of what I'd seen in the corporate environment. But, I learned that you need some rules even while you're having a good time."

Corporate America, he continues, has a tendency to build worker bees, not thinkers. At GDI, Weaver says he has created a place where people who are passionate about their work can maximize their abilities and talents to help change the world. "We can change the canvass of the world and affect kids lives."

One example of that power, he says, is a recent campaign the company did for the Baltimore City Career Technology Program, creating a campaign to help children in the program understand that they can find careers in fields like IT, hospitality and service industries.

According to Weaver, although GDI has been successful so far, the company has not yet begun to fully utilize the talents of his staff. "You have to unlock things�that's part of leadership. The path of life is marked, but it's not well lit and as a leader you have to be able to see beyond where you can see."Pushing the envelope

At GDI, Weaver says they're always thinking about ways to innovate. "As design technology firm, we're definitely going to be changing the game in the next few years. We're in our think tank now looking at the next thing for 2015, 2018. I think we have the talent and ability to develop products that will help make life better and also make a difference."

The company's three core competencies, brand management tools, e-solutions and intelligent marketing applications combined with its presence in the government, private, and non-profit sectors have positioned the company to exist in a place from which it is possible to be more creative.

"We try to make sure that the essence of the companies we work with matches our DNA. We want to work with companies who are comfortable pushing the envelope and want to break outside the box," he says.

He wants to bring e-learning away from powerpoint presentations of the past and into the future where 3D and virtual technologies create dynamic scenarios for students to follow. For emergency and disaster response teams, GDI is looking at ways to bring in social media components into play in ways that will add the teams on ground.

Oh Baltimore

Weaver says that Baltimore is a great place to start a business. "What I love about Baltimore is that it has all of the inner workings of a very entrepreneurial small big city. You have access to Washington. You have access to Philadelphia and New York by train, so you can get to all these places by train."

More important than its proximity to other major metropolitan areas is that Baltimore doesn't have the same kind of barriers commonly found in larger cities.

"It's not overwhelming. In a super big city, you need super big connections. [In Baltimore,] you can make headway. You can meet people. You can be at an event and talk to folks who will hear you out without being snobby. You have a shot here. I didn't have any connections here but was able to make inroads here. I don't think I could have done that in someplace like Chicago," he says.



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Walaika Haskins is managing editor of Bmore Media. She has called Baltimore her home base for more than 25 years.

Captions:
1. Joeseph Weaver, President of Global Design Interactive.
2. Logo and graphics designed for a Green Energy conference for the region by Global Design Interactive
3. Joeseph Weaver, President of Global Design Interactive
4. Logo and graphics designed for a Green Energy conference for the region by Global Design Interactive
5. Joeseph Weaver, President of Global Design Interactive