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P R O F I L E
Fight the urge to be like everyone else Rising CEO still finds inspiration from the teachings of his college football coach, the legendary Lou Holtz.
TZL: How would you describe your leadership style? BW: I am very collaborative. I like to be involved with what we are doing, but prefer to motivate our team to find the solutions. I tend to be an idea and vision guy and then rely on others to execute that vision. TZL: What is the greatest professional challenge to date and how did you deal with it? BW: The recession. It was a scary time for everyone. We trimmed our staff very slightly and then invest- ed in business development and education. Our revenue dropped, but we remained profitable and “I am very collaborative. I like to be involved with what we are doing, but prefer to motivate our team to find the solutions. I tend to be an idea and vision guy and then rely on others to execute that vision.”
By LIISA ANDREASSEN Correspondent
A s CEO of WSB & Associates (Minneapolis, MN), a 335-person consulting and design firm and No. 16 on Zweig Group’s 2015 Hot Firm List, Brett Weiss values the importance of creating a cul- ture of collaboration. Before he and five colleagues launched WSB in 1995, Weiss worked for a small, private develop- ment firm for one year, then moved to a multidis- cipline firm for seven years where he served in the role of municipal engineer. The Zweig Letter recently caught up with Weiss for a Q&A. The Zweig Letter: What are your key strengths? What do you feel the key strengths are for an ef- fective leader? Brett Weiss: I asked my management team this question and the resounding answer was ‘moti- vation.’ I would probably agree with that, but add that I am a big optimist and have a lot of resiliency. Starting a company from the ground up and com- peting against firms that have many more years of experience requires all of these traits.
Brett Weiss, CEO, WSB & Associates
See Q&A, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER March 14, 2016, ISSUE 1143
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