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BUSINESS NEWS ZAHA HADID CLAIMS GOLD FROM ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS Famed architect Zaha Hadid recently did what no woman had ever done before – she earned the gold medal form the Royal Institute of British Architects, and did it in her own right. Receiving the award for a body of work that spans continents, Hadid was honored at a black-tie gala earlier this month in London. On receiving the medal, Hadid had this to say: “I am very proud to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal, in particular, to be the first woman to receive the honor in her own right. We now see more established female architects all the time. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Sometimes the chal- lenges are immense.”

Take your advice from Mark Zweig to-go. Listen to this and past editorials from The Zweig Letter via the free TZL Podcast on Stitcher, iTunes and Soundcloud. zweiggroup.com/podcast

Courtesty: Brigitte Lacombe

While Hadid has her share of supporters, she remains a divisive figure in the architectural universe. To some she’s a genius, but to others she’s a tyrant, according to a lengthy 2013 profile that appeared in The Guardian . Hadid has more than 30 projects worldwide either under construction or in the planning phase. Hadid’s finished designs include the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, the Aquatics Centre constructed

for the 2012 London Olympics, and the MAXXI Museum in Rome. Hadid, born in Baghdad, Iraq, resides in the United Kingdom.

MARK ZWEIG, from page 1

need to make, and do everything else they have to do, without being reminded. ❚ ❚ Self-confidence. Sales and business development people have to have confidence so they can meet and interact with people who may be older or higher status or more suc- cessful than they are themselves. A lack of confidence can be interpreted by a client as a lack of confidence in the firm and its abilities. ❚ ❚ Excellent verbal and written communication skills. It’s hard to teach these skills to a BD person who doesn’t come into the job with them. You just cannot go around saying things like “we had went to the store” or “me and John had really liked the way you did that” to a client without it reflecting really poorly on the firm. ❚ ❚ Looks/dress. This is another area that is touchy but has to be addressed. If you don’t know what a decent fitting sport coat looks like or think everyone should be cool with the third eye tattoo on your forehead you may not have the social awareness skills nec- essary to function in a BD role. ❚ ❚ Manners. We used to have a guy who worked for us who would grab his fork with his entire hand and shovel in whatever he was eating like some kind of animal. It was em- barrassing and really held him back from being allowed to interface with clients. ❚ ❚ Ability to be a bit of a chameleon. I’m talking about being able to see both sides of any issue and being able to adapt to the culture or environment one finds themselves in. This can be a useful skill when working in business development! ❚ ❚ Not pushing a particular religious or political ideology. The problem is no matter how “right” your position is you could alienate someone you don’t want to alienate. ❚ ❚ Good listener and observer. If you are going to succeed in BD, you have to be both a good listener and good observer. It’s how you pick up on the signals that allows you to adapt your pitch if needed. ❚ ❚ Wide ranging general knowledge base. This enables the BD person to talk about any- thing – staying up on current events and many other areas of interest – so as to facili- tate relationship building. Without a relationship you will not make the sale. ❚ ❚ Likeable. Business development people need to be likeable. If they aren’t, they won’t be considered trustworthy. No trust, no buy. ❚ ❚ Honest/trustworthy. If you aren’t trustworthy, no client will buy services from you. So this has to be a requirement for all business development people. I’m sure this list could be longer – but these are “MUST HAVES” in my book for all BD people. Time for me to go sell another job! MARK ZWEIG is Zweig Group’s founder and CEO. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.

1200 North College Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72703 Mark Zweig | Publisher mzweig@zweiggroup.com Richard Massey | Managing Editor rmassey@zweiggroup.com Christina Zweig | Contributing Editor christinaz@zweiggroup.com Sara Parkman | Editor and Designer sparkman@zweiggroup.com Megan Halbert | Design Assistant mhalbert@zweiggroup.com Liisa Andreassen | Correspondent landreassen@zweiggroup.com Tel: 800-466-6275 Fax: 800-842-1560 Email: info@zweiggroup.com Online: www.thezweigletter.com Twitter: twitter.com/zweigletter Blog: blog.zweiggroup.com

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THE ZWEIG LETTER February 22, 2016, ISSUE 1140

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