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INDUSTRY NEWS 2015 AUTODESK EXCELLENCE IN INFRASTRUCTURE GLOBAL WINNERS AN- NOUNCED Autodesk, Inc. and CGarchitect , a leading online magazine and end-user community for visualization and design professionals, an- nounced this year’s winners of the 2015 Autodesk Excellence in Infra- structure Competition to spotlight some of the world’s best applications of building information modeling for civil infrastructure projects. In its fourth year, the competition honors Arup , Ramboll - Parsons Brinckerhoff joint venture, and HNTB as the first, second and third place winners for their transit and bridge projects. The competition also recognizes CivilE LLC as Small Project award winner, and Dawn Digital Pvt. Ltd. as the Visualization Award winner. “Each of the winning projects offers a model for the application of forward-thinking building information modeling workflows and technologies for challenging infrastructure projects,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Autodesk. “First place Arup, for

MEET BILL MURPHEY ... Bill Murphy recently joined Zweig Group as the director of edu- cation. In this role, he will be overseeing the firm’s continuing education offerings. Some additional information on Bill: Background: “I spent the first part of my career in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a colonel after 24 years of active duty service. I was privileged to have a wide range of op- portunities over the years: I flew around the world as a C-130 aircraft navigator (reaching all seven continents), commanded a 900-person logistics group, and conducted national-level strategic planning at the Pentagon. Before joining Zweig Group, I was the associate director of executive education in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. Education: M.S. in national resource strategy, National De- fense University; M.A. in organizational management, George Washington University; M.A. in military operational art and sci- ence, Air University; B.S. in marketing, University of Arkansas Professional Motto: “Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. Be honest, humble, and hardworking.” Personal Motto: “Don’t judge a person by their appearance; you don’t know the struggles they’re facing.” Hobbies: running, golf, genealogy, and military history Family: “Angie and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniver- sary this summer. We have three grown children: Taylor, Emily, and Sam. Plans for Continuing Ed. at Zweig Group: “I’m excited about the future of the Zweig Group education program, as we look to double the size of our program next year. For 2016, we’re expanding our in-person seminar programs, adding a webinar series and online courses, and partnering with several educational organizations. When you add in our annual awards conference in September 2016, we have a calendar full of events and activities. Our customers will ap- preciate the interconnectedness of our programs and how one program builds upon another.” Final words: “I believe education fosters success. The more you understand the world around you and how things are connected, the better the decisions you’ll make. My focus at Zweig Group is on helping leaders and organizations become better than they think they can be. When leaders at all levels are working towards a common purpose and are armed with the right tools, amazing things happen!” example, created a large-scale model for a section of a 17 km-long railway line that integrates GIS data from multiple sources and formats and consolidated this information with the proposed station, tunnels, public facilities and as-built records of the adjacent buildings. This remarkable effort demonstrated how the application of BIM process- based technologies and practices can help manage project scope and foster cross-disciplinary design to support design reviews, improve constructability, manage traffic and communicate more effectively with all stakeholders.” Managed by CGarchitect and cosponsored by Autodesk and HP, the competition’s panel of industry expert judges selected the winners from a total of 40 submissions. The judges evaluated entries based on complexity, innovative use of technology, sustainability and the execution of a BIM process to anticipate, assess and act more confidently from project start to finish and continue to add value to operations and maintenance.

BILL MURPHEY, from page 5

Build a strategy team. Designate a strategy team with your best and brightest minds. That’s obviously easier to do when you have a larger organization, but a strategy group of three or four people in a firm of 25 employees is very doable. Task them with becom- ing experts on the industry and the market. Make them your prognosticators of things to come. This should not be just your principals! Leadership is important. Your strategy team must be fully sup- ported by the firm’s senior executives and have constant, direct access to all of your company’s executives. Remind the team its efforts must always be connected to the company’s vision and mission. Most importantly, leaders must be willing to act on the advice of this team of experts. Training is vital. Do you know how to develop a strategy – not a strategic plan, but a true strategy? Very few people have the experience and formal education required to do it effectively. To have an effective team, appoint a leader who’s been formally trained or send that person through a training program. Any- thing less, and you’re just wasting time. There are a few good programs out there, but the best ones are very pricy. Look at the course overview and if it peddles “SWOT Analysis” as the main selling point, keep looking. There’s more to a solid strategic plan than a SWOT analysis. Commit. Too often, companies spend precious time at some nice off-site location, discussing in which direction the company should head, only to return to the office to place this shiny new strategy on some shelf, where it gathers dust until next year’s off-site at some even nicer location. If you’re going to spend the time, commit to the results, or it’s all for naught. “Always prepared” is a great mantra for any company in any industry. The ones that prepare for the competition are healthier and will likely fare well. Those that fail to plan will have plenty of time to reminisce about how great things were before the competition took their market share, or worse, their company. By understanding your company’s position relative to others, actively scouting the horizon, and having actionable plans in place, your company can be successful in the highly competitive and dynamic AEC marketplace. BILL MURPHEY is Zweig Group’s director of education. Contact him at bmurphey@zweiggroup.com

THE ZWEIG LETTER OCTOBER 12, 2015, ISSUE 1123

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