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Like a proud father of a newborn baby, Mike Power, CEO of Power Creative, escorts his guests through the length of four company buildings, including a large photography studio, to the room son David Power calls "his retirement home."
In that large space, with a window looking out on the building's back entrance, the working elements of a desk, conference table and computer are offset by a dart board, a putting green, a large couch and bar stools, a huge antique camera covered with a glass top for a coffee table, and in case you have a sweet tooth a huge bowl of candy in the center of the conference table.
As his office suggests, Mike Power is a man who likes to work and play. His driving passion for playing sports - including football, basketball, bowling and golf, among others - probably is the only thing that can be compared to the level of passion he has for his business.
He has built his company, formerly Power Graphics, from a fourperson design studio into a 160-employee, full-service advertising and multimedia company with offices in Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville, and with about $85 million in estimated capitalized billings in 2000.
The company - whose customers include GE Appliances, BrownForman Beverages Worldwide Corp., the commercial security and safety business division of Ingersoll-Rand Co., Lennox Industries Inc., PowerBilt Golf, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. ranked No. 2 on Business First's Sept. 1 list of Largest Advertising Agencies in the Greater Louisville area, ranked by gross income.
If friends and family had to choose one word to describe Mike Power, most offer "competitive."
He is a businessman who needs to be the best, not in the sense that he needs to beat the other guy, but in the sense that he measures the results against what he knows he and his staff can do.
"He's not the person who chases money; he's the person who chases perfection," says Richard Watson, a longtime friend who met Mike Power on the golf course at Hurstbourne Country Club. "He wants his work to be perfect, and he pursues a wonderful product."
Perhaps that focus on his own abilities is one of the reasons golf is his favorite sport these days....