Margaret ‘Maggie’ Bailey is a Vice President at CannonDesign, where she leads strategy and day-to-day operations for the healthcare market. CannonDesign is a design firm that not only creates atmospheres and environments but provides many other design solution services like business consulting, experience strategy, and health planning. She works across the organization to innovate partnerships and develop strategies to transform the future of healthcare. She frequently works with teams in North America (U.S. and Canada) and Mumbai, which challenges her to consider other cultures when building teams and anticipating client needs.
Maggie is driven by problem-solving. From a young age, she was involved in an academic program that focused on problem-solving, and it ignited a love for puzzles and finding solutions. She thrives on change and seeing the positive changes that come from the solutions she presents is what brings her joy every day.
She is currently leading an initiative called “Whole Child, Every Child,” which strives to address childhood inequality in a holistic way, creating environments for children to grow up with the support they need. She’s tackled the lack of diversity in the AEC industry by cofounding CannonDesign’s Inclusive Partner Program—a focused program for minority-owned, women-owned, and other underrepresented businesses—with Cindy Bambini, another member of Forum.
One of the main reasons that Maggie enjoys working at CannonDesign is the culture at its core. She shared that she’s able to take time away from work to be home with her family and their flexible schedule allows for a 4-day work week. The company culture understands that there are many dimensions to life, and work is only one of them.
When Maggie was younger, she thought that leaders had to be always perfect. She grew up with the mindset and quote from American Beauty that “in order to be successful, you must create an image of success at all times.” Through her mentors and her own experiences, she’s learned this is not the truth. The most significant leaders that inspire her now are the most authentic and the most human, the ones who are honest about their mistakes and bad days.
Maggie spends a large amount of time volunteering with Ronald McDonald House, as well as working with Lean In.org and RUNG For Women, working to empower women and girls. In addition to her volunteer work, she was also named to St. Louis’ Business Journals 2021 “40 under 40” list.
She considers her life traditional in a very non-traditional way. She has a partner named James, and the biggest part of her identity is “Mom.” Everything that she does both within and outside of work centers around her kids—she strives to be intentional with her children. She enjoys her peloton, running, and music whenever she can.
Her Recommendation: Read Design Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, an interactive book on bringing together all aspects of your life to create a life you love.