Building Better Communities, and Better Companies

Jon Williams embraces change, leans into the generational shift, and continues to grow a purpose-driven and profitable company. Gone are the days of “my way or the highway,” as Williams embraces the idea that good business is good for business–and for the communities they serve.

Jon Williams and W&A Engineering were awarded the goBeyondProfit Champion Award in 2021. Jon is pictured here with Megan McCamey, President of goBeyondProfit. (Photo credit: Matt Hanner)

With a career that began as a teenager at his father’s grocery store, Better Communities Collaborative President and CEO Jon Williams learned at a young age what leadership and community impact mean. And as Williams watched his dad support the causes and events that made Alma, Georgia, a community, it shaped who he would become and how he would approach his entrepreneurial journey and role as President and CEO of what would become Better Communities Collaborative.

After graduating from the University of Georgia, Williams went into business on his own back in 1999, building Williams & Associates into W&A Engineering, which then became Better Communities Collaborative (BCC), a family of businesses with more than 130 employees across the Southeast.

Over the past 25 years, Williams has fine-tuned his approach to leadership, taking the lessons he learned from his father and applying them as his company has grown. Most importantly, he’s learned that his business exists because of his amazing team — not the opposite. This mindset has emphasized the importance of listening to his team members and putting them, their customers, and their communities first.

On a recent episode of the B The Change Georgia podcast (no relation to this Medium channel), Williams shared this philosophy with host Nathan A. Stuck, and the knowledge that without his team, we “wouldn’t be able to do everything we’re doing for our communities, or for our clients, if it wasn’t for the talent that’s willing to work here and get behind our why.”

Team members of the Better Communities Collaborative and Athens Area Habitat for Humanity, their 2022 Charity of Choice for the Athens, Georgia, office. Each year, each BCC office allows their team to choose their own Charity of Choice to receive their volunteer, pro bono, and philanthropic contributions. (Photo credit: Nele Langhof)

In addition to sharing this fresh perspective on the importance of prioritizing the company’s stakeholders, Williams unpacks some wonderful wisdom during this episode, including:

• Why Better Communities Collaborative certified as a B Corporation and how being a B Corp helps them recruit and retain the next generation of talent.
• How every generation is different and why that isn’t a bad thing but rather a sign of our evolution and something that should be embraced.
• What this generational shift means, why the good businesses will adapt and thrive, and why the stubborn ones will struggle to survive.
• The importance of doing good with every decision in an industry that’s often vilified and why we need to support the companies doing business the right way.

Listen to more episodes of B The Change Georgia, produced by Chat With Leaders Media, here (or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts).

B The Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of Certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.