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Time we have wasted on the way Rather than ignore the younger A/E/P professionals, embrace them. You might just be surprised by the talent and passion you find.

I n a recent leadership training program presented to more than 40 project managers and senior staffers, many bemoaned the fact that their firms lacked a middle tier.

When presented with a story about a leader who at the age of 9 formed an organization that grew from six to 350,000 members in 22 countries, and at 17 stepped down and handed the reins over to a duo of co-presidents who were 15 years old, many of the attendees were stunned. Leadership has no age. Many firms are facing a shortage of qualified staff to fill the roles and functions that are required to produce the high quality architectural, engineering, and planning deliverables that their clients have asked them to provide. Many firms complain about the younger staff; architects in training, engineers in training, and others who are under 30 years of age. They say there is no drive, initiative, or desire to be engaged in the profession. “When you were young did you question all the answers?/You must go for what you wanted.” I have conducted my own less-than-empirical

survey of more than 1,000 A/E/P employees under 30 year olds, and my conclusions are as follows: 1)They have the desire to be registered or accredited in their respective professional organizations. 2)They are engaged and want to succeed. 3)They are experts in an unfiltered view of the way deliverables can be created and, in fact, have some game-changing ways to streamline processes. (This has $$$ written all over it.) 4)They are adept at having multiple conversations with many. (IM and chat tools.) 5)They have tools at their disposal that other genera- tions marvel at, and that also have them complain- ing that things are being done differently. 6) Couple this generation with older generations and they can create game-changing ideas that could turn into new business or service lines. 7) Give them new technologies and they will create See TED MAZIEJKA, page 8

THE ZWEIG LETTER May 16, 2016, ISSUE 1152

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