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BUSINESS NEWS ZAHA HADID, 1950-2016, DIES FROM HEART ATTACK It is with great sadness that Zaha Hadid Architects announce that Dame Zaha Hadid died suddenly in Miami in the early hours of March 31. She contracted bronchitis earlier in the week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in the hospital. Zaha Hadid was widely regarded as the greatest female architect in the world. Born in Baghdad in 1950, she studied mathematics at the American University of Beirut before starting her architectural journey in 1972 at the Architectural Association in London. By 1979 she had established her own practice in London – Zaha Hadid Architects – garnering a reputation across the world for her ground- breaking theoretical works including The Peak in Hong Kong, the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, and the Cardiff Bay Opera House in Wales. Working with office partner Patrik Schumacher, her interest was in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology, which her practice integrates with the use of innovative technologies often resulting in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms. In 2004, Zaha Hadid became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. She twice won the UK’s most prestigious architecture award, the Royal Institute of

British Architects Stirling Prize. Zaha Hadid was recently awarded RIBA’s 2016 Royal Gold Medal, the first woman to be awarded the prestigious honor in her own right. Zaha Hadid’s first major built commission, one that affirmed her international recognition, was the Vitra Fire Station in Weil Am Rhein, Germany; subsequent notable projects including the MAXXI: Italian National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympic Games and the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku. Buildings such as the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati and the Guangzhou Opera House in China have also been hailed as architecture that transforms our ideas of the future with visionary spatial concepts defined by advanced design, material and construction processes. Zaha Hadid’s other awards included the Republic of France’s Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Japan’s Praemium Imperiale and in 2012, Zaha Hadid was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture.

Courtesty: Brigitte Lacombe

She held various academic roles including the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; the Sullivan Chair at the University of Illinois, School of Architecture. Hadid also taught studios at Columbia University, Yale University and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. — Zaha Hadid Architects

also need to know the mission and goals of the firm so they can represent the brand that has been so carefully maintained over the years. Your clients need to feel the same way. They need to know you, know your commitment to their project, and be able to have open conversations about your business relationship. Like my dad and my uncle always said – it all starts with honesty. So be truthful with yourself, because your internal compass directs every effort and result in life. Be honest with your clients and be honest with your employees. There are only a few leaders in each organization and each leader carries the responsibility of guiding their company through the good and bad times. For decades many firms have survived and thrived in the A/E/P space. So what is their secret? What is it that creates a culture that can endure the ups and downs and pains of growth and contraction? I believe it is building honesty and integrity into every deal and every relationship. Over the years a firm will evolve, and new leadership will arise, but the founding principles should remain intact. It is that reliability and accountability that will keep the brand complete and able to compete for years to come. WILL SWEARINGEN is a financial consultant, M&A services, at Zweig Group. Contact him at wswearingen@zweiggroup.com “When I asked them what made the firm successful, they said the recipe was simple – honesty and integrity when conducting business.”

WILL SWEARINGEN , from page 11

A firm’s top executives are the cornerstone of its success. Their commitment to honesty should be a critical component of the entire company’s culture, and should inspire growth and development in the entire staff, from interns to middle managers to project leads. Keeping those lines of communication open, from the C-Suite down, can drive staff to become more involved in the process, while continuing to gain confidence and accountability. In fact, this is what we hear time and time again in our strategic planning engagements. People want to be involved. They want to know what is happening with the firm. They want to be an asset. Maintaining honest communication from the top to the bottom can open so many doors for a firm and its people. Now this is not to say that you have to open the entire playbook and invite everyone to see the dirty laundry! But it does mean that you have to get people comfortable talking. Employees need to know the expectations. They “A firm’s top executives are the cornerstone of its success. Their commitment to honesty should be a critical component of the entire company’s culture, and should inspire growth and development in the entire staff, from interns to middle managers to project leads.”

THE ZWEIG LETTER April 18, 2016, ISSUE 1148

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