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BW: My life is mostly an open book, but I would say that I am a big musical theater fan! TZL: What is the last book you read (digital or print)? BW: Good Profit by Charles Koch. I’m a print guy. TZL: What is the last movie you saw? BW: Star Wars (although I really want to see Creed ). TZL: What is the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever gotten? BW: Lou Holtz (my football coach at the University of Min- nesota) said two things that I quote all the time: 1) WIN – What’s important now? This helps me to focus on the many tasks and prioritize. 2) People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. This one is very true. TZL: Who is a leader you admire? Why? BW: Lou Holtz. His leadership style was tough, yet compas- sionate. He had high expectations, but cared about all of his players. I loved his fire, energy, can-do attitude, faith, and courage. TZL: When you’re not working, what types of activities do you enjoy? BW: I’m a passionate golfer. And, being a former football player, I’m a big fan of Gopher football. I also enjoy working out with my wife and traveling to New York City to visit my son and daughter-in-law. TZL: What do you really want others to know about you and your firm? BW: I want people to know we care. When I die, I don’t want my tombstone to say: ‘He was good in business.’ You’re not remembered for that. I want people to know I cared and maybe made a little difference in their lives so they could make a difference in others’. It’s the butterfly effect. “I want people to know we care. When I die, I don’t want my tombstone to say: ‘He was good in business.’ You’re not remembered for that. I want people to know I cared and maybe made a little difference in their lives so they could make a difference in others. It’s the butterfly effect.”

Q&A, from page 3

came out of the recession stronger than we went in. Our re- sulting growth is proof of that strategy. TZL: What is your vision for the future of WSB? BW: To remain a privately-held business. I don’t know if that means by a group of shareholders or as an ESOP, but I believe that there is value in the culture that we have de- veloped. We intend to continue to push the innovation en- velope and not follow the traditional path. We are entering the geotechnical and materials market and have some other new service areas that we believe will be beneficial to our cli- ents and provide efficient and progressive service to them. We are going to further develop WSBU, an in-house educa- tion program, so that it is the premier education program in the industry. We also plan to continue to grow our benefits so that we are the preferred consulting firm for staff. TZL: How have you helped your firm to outperform some competitors? BW: I don’t know if we are outperforming our competitors, but we are focused on our success. I learned a long time ago to focus on how I can improve who I am and don’t try to be someone else. We have a saying around the office: ‘Fight the urge to be like everyone else.’ “I believe that there is value in the culture that we have developed. We intend to continue to push the innovation envelope and not follow the traditional path.” TZL: To what do you mostly attribute your firm’s speedy growth? BW: Certainly the economy has improved greatly which has a strong impact on increasing our workload. In addition to that, we have added service areas and key staff that have in- creased our opportunities and revenue. TZL: Are you married? Do you have children? Pets? BW: I have been married to a wonderful lady, Dawn, for 29 years. She has been instrumental in my success due to her support and advice. I also have a fantastic son who recently graduated from Columbia Law School and is an IP litigation attorney for a firm in New York City. We lost our dog, Go- pher, a year ago. TZL: What’s one thing most people at the firm don’t know about you?

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THE ZWEIG LETTER March 14, 2016, ISSUE 1143

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